Detection of serum procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and white blood cell for severe pneumonia in children

Objective To explore the clinical effect of detection of serum procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cell (WBC) on diagnosis and treatment of severe pneumonia in children. Methods A total of 189 cases of pediatric patients with pneumonia including 51 severe pneumonia cases (severe pneumonia group) and 138 common pneumonia cases (common pneumonia group) treated from Mar 2014 to Dec 2014 and 30 healthy cases ( control group) were enrolled, and the level of PCT, CRP and WBC of all cases were detected. Results The levels of PCT before treatment in severe pneumonia group, common pneumonia group, and control group were 1.12(0.44~3.07) ng/ml, 0.14(0.09~0.26) ng/ml and 0.03(0.01~0.06) ng/ml respectively, and there were significant differences among three groups (P<0.05, respectively). The levels of CRP before treatment in severe pneumonia group, common pneumonia group, and control group were 82.2(25.9~120.3) mg/L, 10.8(5.3~23.9) mg/L and 3.2(2.1~6.9) mg/L respectively, and there were significant differences among three groups (P<0.05, respectively). The counts of WBC before treatment in severe pneumonia group, common pneumonia group, and control group were 10.1(9.1~14.1)×109/L, 8.8(6.8~11.7)×109/L and 6.2(4.8~7.9)×109/L respectively, and there was significant difference only between severe pneumonia group and control group (P<0.05). The level of PCT and CRP significantly decreased in severe pneumonia group after one week of treatment[PCT: 0.15(0.09~0.24) ng/ml, CRP: 9.9(3.6~19.0) mg/L](P<0.05), but there was no significant difference of WBC counts in severe pneumonia group between after and before treatment[8.5(6.3~9.8)×109/L vs.10.1(9.1~14.1)×109/L](t=1.312, P=0.205). After two days of anti-inflammatory treatment in severe pneumonia group, serum PCT dropped to 44% of the level before treatment, and smoothly dropped to nearly 10% of the basic value every two days.Serum PCT was correlated with serum CRP in children with pneumonia(R2=0.550 4, P<0.05). Conclusion The combined detection of PCT and CRP could provide important guidance for the differential diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for severe pneumonia in children. Key words: Procalcitonin; C-reactive protein; White blood cell; Severe pneumonia