title: Procalcitonin use in a pediatric intensive care unit.
abstract: We evaluated whether procalcitonin (PCT) might aid diagnosing serious bacterial infections in a general pediatric intensive care unit population. Two-hundred and one patients accounted for 332 PCT samples. A PCT ≥1.45 ng/mL had a positive predictive value of 30%, a negative predictive value of 93% and a sensitivity of 72% and a specificity of 75%. These data suggest PCT can assist in identifying patients without serious bacterial infections and limit antimicrobial use.
authors.affiliation: From the *St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, PA; †Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA; ‡Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE; §NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY; and ¶NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Jeffrey J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cies
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chopra
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide