C-reactive Protein (CRP) as Diagnostic Marker of Pneumonia in Children

Abstract

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung parenchyma tissue that mainly affects the respiratory bronchioles and alveoli. The present research study is focused on assessment of the C-reactive protein (CRP) test as a tool marker for the diagnosis of pneumonia among children. In the current study, a total of 450 patients admitted to the children ward at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan were selected, out of which 55% were male and 45% were female. In addition, two groups were designed according to age i.e. 1-8 years and 9-16 years of age with a frequency of 55 and 45%, respectively. In case of chest X-ray assessment, it was observed that all patients were highly susceptible to pneumonia infection, while from blood culture analysis, it was perceived that 419 patients (93%) were highly susceptible to pneumonia infection. Two bacterial isolates (Klebsiella pneumoniae and Streptococcus pneumoniae) were characterised from all positive samples. In contrast with CRP assessment, 385 patients (85%) had positive CRP reports displaying more than 5 mg/L CRP values and 65 patients (15%) had negative CRP reports. Thus, it was concluded that patients with high CRP values presented clear evidence of a severe infection. Moreover, it is suggested that CRP is a sensitive, less time consuming and inexpensive technique; therefore, it has been recommended to be used as a tool marker along with other diagnostic techniques for the diagnosis of life-threaten infections to get a more clear picture about infections.

Keywords

• pneumonia
• pathogenic bacteria
• chest x-ray
• culturing
• crp test