Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels as diagnostic tools in febrile patients admitted to a General Internal Medicine ward.
OBJECTIVE
We study the extent to which procalcitonin (Pro-CT) and/or C-reactive protein (CRP) may be helpful in the early triage of febrile patients admitted to a general internal medicine ward.


METHODS
This is a prospective, observational study on 62 admitted patients in whom a temperature >38°C had been observed the day before inclusion.


RESULTS
Neither Pro-CT nor CRP was able to discriminate infectious (or bacterial) diseases from the other etiologies as a group, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.63 (95% CI 0.47-0.79, p=0.15) for Pro-CT and 0.61, (95CI 0.44-0.78, p=0.23) for CRP. Sensitivity and specificity for Pro-CT varied between 0.59 and 0.67 for a cut-off point of 0.2 ng/mL and 0.03 and 1 for a cut-off point of 10.0 ng/mL. However, in subgroup analysis, Pro-CT was able to discriminate between infectious and inflammatory diseases (Welch two sample t-test t=2.39, df=44.3, p=0.021).
Department of Internal Medicine, Universitary Hospital of Mostoles, Madrid, Spain.
Raul
R
Ruiz-Esteban
Pilar Relea
PR
Sarabia
Emilio García
EG
Delgado
Carlos Barros
CB
Aguado
Jose Amerigo
JA
Cuervo-Arango
Manuel
M
Varela
D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D005334:Fever / Q000097:blood*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D007297:Inpatients; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013696:Temperature
D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide