Evaluation of Procalcitonin and C– Reactive Protein to Predict Blood Culture Positivity in Sepsis

Abstract

Background- Sepsis is one of the most important cause of death in hospital setup. Blood culture is the most important and definite tool for diagnosis of sepsis but it take 48-72 hours, in this condition biomarkers procalcitonin and CRP play important role in early diagnosis of sepsis. PCT is more specific marker than CRP. Our study  revealed that there is an association between PCT value and blood culture positivity. High PCT value (>10ng/ml) independently linked with gram negative bacteraemia particularly Enterobacteriaceae. Aim- To study the comparison between procalcitonin and CRP to predict blood  culture positivity in bacterial sepsis.

Methods-This is prospective observationalstudy with duration 2 years. during the study who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study after taking inform consent.

Result- Our study revealed That ROC curve of procalcitonin level in predicting culture positivity (both gram -ve and +ve) showed an area under the curve of 0.67 with 95% CI of   –0.74. The association is highly statistically significant (p value <0.001) while curveof CRP level in predicting culture positivity (both gram -ve and + ve) showed an area under the curve of 0.519 with 95% CI of 0.43 – 0.60. The association was not statistically significant (p value = 0.653).PCT is better predictor of blood culture report than CRP in sepsis patients. PCT levels correlate with Gram negative bacteria specially enterobacteriaceae. Higher (>10) PCT values independently associated with enterobacteriaceae in bloodculture.