Value Of Serum Procalcitonin As A Diagnostic Biomarker Of Infection In Children With Chronic Kidney Disease

Abstract

Introduction: Serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels are known to be low in healthy individuals in healthy subjects but are increased in patients with a severe bacterial infection. It has not been extensively studied in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Patient and method: The present study was conducted on 60 chronic kidney disease pediatric patients. The patients were recruited from Beni-suef university hospital department of pediatrics. They were divided into 2 groups, group (I)(case) include 30 pediatric patients of chronic kidney disease with proven infection and the second group(II) (control) include 30 chronic kidney disease pediatric patients apparently healthy (without infections). Procalcitonin levels were measured by ELISA. Results: Children with proven infections had a significantly higher PCT (0.87±0.21ng/ml) than those without (0.50±0.18ng/ml), p = 0.04. The ideal cutoff value derived for serum PCT was 0.63ng/ml. This threshold value established a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 80.0%. Conclusion: This study indicates that significantly increased PCT concentration is a promising predictor of systemic bacterial infection in children with CKD, with good sensitivity and specificity. This study proposes that serum PCT is a convenient index of infection in CKD children at a cutoff value of 0.63ng/ml.

Keywords

• chronic kidney disease
• children
• infection
• procalcitonin