Evaluation of Procalcitonin and C-reactive Protein in Early Differential Diagnosis of Neonatal Jaundice.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical value of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the differential diagnosis of neonatal jaundice.

METHODS

Eighty-five cases of neonatal jaundice in our hospital from January 2016 to March 2019 were selected as research subjects, including 30 cases of physiological jaundice, 23 cases of infectious jaundice, and 32 cases of he-molytic jaundice. Five milliliters of non-anticoagulated venous peripheral blood and 3 mL EDTA-K+ anticoagulated venous peripheral blood were sampled from each newborn when the symptoms of jaundice occurred. The non-anticoagulated blood samples were then centrifuged at 3,500 rpm for 7 minutes and the serum was used for PCT and bilirubin examinations, and the anticoagulated blood samples were prepared for CRP examination. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed for the evaluation of differential diagnosis of neonatal jaundice by PCT, CRP, and bilirubin levels.

RESULTS

Analyses of variance showed the postnatal age of jaundice occurring in the physiological jaundice group was older than those in the infectious jaundice and hemolytic jaundice groups (p < 0.001), and the PCT and CRP levels in the infectious jaundice group were higher than those in the hemolytic jaundice and physiological jaundice groups (p < 0.001). Pearson's correlation analysis indicated that the levels of PCT and CRP were negatively correlated with postnatal age in the physiological jaundice group (p < 0.05). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that PCT and CRP had the highest differential diagnosis efficacy of neonatal pathological and neonatal physiological jaundice with PCT and CRP at 0.70 µg/L and 8.50 mg/L, respectively, as well as the highest differential diagnosis efficacy of neonatal infectious jaundice and neonatal hemolytic jaundice with PCT and CRP at 1.84 µg/L and 13.50 mg/L, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggested that PCT and CRP possessed important clinical values in the differential diagnosis of neonatal jaundice, and PCT was superior to the differential diagnosis of neonatal infectious jaundice.