Evaluation of the Agreement Rate of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Procalcitonin (PCT) Levels in Children with Sepsis, Septic Shock and Systemic Inflammatory ResponseSyndrome (SIRS)

Most of the studies emphasize increasing PCT in septic shock. The aim of this study was to determine the level of CRP in children suffering from bacterial infection and compare it with PCT in children hospitalised in Mousavi Hospital. This study was carried out with 81 children aged 3 months to13 years old hospitalised in pediatrics ward and the PICU of Mousavi Hospital in 2011-2012.Venous sampling was obtained for the tests and for blood cultures before starting the antibiotic treatment. In special cases, urine and CSF cultures were done. The chest radiography was carried out for children suspected of having the pneumonia and sepsis. Patients who had received parenteral antibiotics one week before their admission to the hospital, were excluded from the study. The level of PCT was equal or less than 0.5 ng/ml, 0.5 to 10 ng/ml and 10 ng/ml in 41.7%, 36.9% and 20.2 % of patients, respectively. The increase in the rate of serum PCT in patients with septic shock was significantly higher than patients infected with SIRS and sepsis. CRP was found higher than 10 in 71.4% of patients. The kappa agreement rate of PCT and CRP was 0.46 and meaningful (p < 0.0001). Despite the high diagnostic sensitivity of PCT, measuring the CRP is also convenient and affordable in differentiating different stages of infection.