title: Procalcitonin as a prognostic marker for sepsis: a prospective observational study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Procalcitonin is useful for the diagnosis of sepsis but its prognostic value regarding mortality is unclear. This prospective observational study was designed to study the prognostic value of procalcitonin in prediction of 28 day mortality in patients of sepsis. Fifty-four consecutive patients of sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock defined using the 2001 Consensus Conference SCCM/ESICM/ACCP/ATS/SIS criteria from medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a tertiary care center in New Delhi, India were enrolled from July 2011 to June 2013. Procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) measurements were recorded on day 1, day 7 and day 28 of follow up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Procalcitonin value was a better predictor of all-cause short-term mortality than C-reactive protein. Those patients with Procalcitonin levels <7 ng/ml showed higher cumulative survival than those with level [greater than or equal to]7 ng/ml (69.1% vs. 39.5%, p = 0.02). No such effect was observed in relation to C-reactive protein. Procalcitonin levels [greater than or equal to]7 ng/ml predicted mortality with a hazard ratio of 2.6(1.1-6.3).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A Procalcitonin value [greater than or equal to]7 ng/ml obtained at the time of admission to the ICU is a predictor of short-term mortality and thus may allow the identification of those septic patients at increased mortality risk, and help improve their treatment.
authors.forename: Saransh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India. drsanjeevsinha2002@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Surendra K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Samantaray
authors.forename: Praveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aggrawal
authors.forename: Naval Kishore
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Vikram
authors.forename: Ashutosh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.forename: Madhuchhanda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Sreenivas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vishnubhatla
authors.forename: Nawaid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide