title: Fast bedside measurement of blood count and C-reactive protein in newborns compared with conventional methods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Abnormal complete blood count (CBC) and high plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with neonatal infections and could be helpful in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis and to monitor the antibiotic treatment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this work is to evaluate and compare the performance of a bedside analyzer for blood count and C-reactive protein (CRP) with a conventional analyzer in a neonatal population.
  
  
  METHODS
  150 capillary or venous blood samples of term and preterm newborns were processed on an ABX-MicrosCRP200 analyzer and on a SysmexXE2100 (conventional hematology analyzer) for CBC, leukocyte differential, reticulocytes, and nucleated red blood cells (NRBC); high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) was performed on a ModularPE. The differences between complete blood count and CRP were regressed against their means and assessed by means of intra-class-correlation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intra-class-correlation for white blood cell (WBC) was 0.98, for hemoglobin 0.97, for hematocrit 0.96, for mean corpuscular volume 0.95, and for platelet 0.98. ABX-MicrosCRP200 overestimated the WBC (+1.27 x 10(3)/microL; p < 0.001), hematocrit (+1.80%; p < 0.001), and platelet (+13.55 x 10(3)/microL; p < 0.001). The intra-class-correlation for CRP was high (0.97), without systematic difference between the two values (p = 0.64).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The agreement between the two methods was high for both tests. However, the SD of the difference for WBC and platelet could be clinically important in leukopenic or thrombocytopenic newborns.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pathology Department, "San Giovanni Calibita" Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Rome, Italy. f.papa.fbf@gmail.com
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Papa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rongioletti
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Majolini
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Collegiani
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vaccarella
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Notarmuzi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cortesi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasqualetti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cicchese
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agostino
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Liumbruno
mesh_terms: D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006405:Hematology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000097:blood*; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein