Assessment values of procalcitonin, lactic acid, and disease severity scores in patients with sepsis

Abstract

To investigate the assessment values of procalcitonin (PCT), lactic acid (LAC), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score in patients with sepsis. 140 patients with suspicious bacterial infection admitted to emergency department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital of the Capital Medical University from August 2017 to June 2018 were enrolled. They were divided into three groups according to diagnostic criteria of Sepsis-3: non-sepsis group (n = 58), sepsis group (n = 66) and septic shock group (n = 16). The PCT, LAC, SOFA score, APACHE II score, 28-day prognosis, and positive detection rate of PCT and LAC were compared among three groups. Independent predictors of 28-day mortality were analyzed by Logistic regression; predictive values of PCT, LAC, SOFA score and APACHE II score for 28-day mortality in sepsis patients were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. PCT, LAC, SOFA score, APACHE II score at admission, and 28-day mortality in sepsis group and septic shock group were significantly higher than those in non-sepsis group, and PCT, LAC, APACHE II score, and 28-day mortality in sepsis shock group were further higher than those in sepsis group [PCT (μg/L): 38.1±12.6 vs. 4.6±2.3, LAC (mmol/L): 3.3±2.1 vs. 2.4±2.1, APACHE II score: 14.9±2.4 vs. 9.5±4.3, 28-day mortality: 75.0% vs. 24.2%, all P < 0.05]. The positive detection rate of PCT and LAC in sepsis group and septic shock group were higher than those in non-sepsis group (positive detection rate of PCT: 56.1%, 81.3% vs. 32.8%; positive detection rate of LAC: 42.4%, 62.5% vs. 13.7%; all P < 0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that PCT, LAC, SOFA score and APACHE II score were independent predictors of 28-day mortality [PCT: odds ratio (OR) = 0.933, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 0.878-0.991; LAC: OR = 0.539, 95%CI = 0.347-0.838; SOFA score: OR = 0.291, 95%CI = 0.514-0.741; APACHE II score: OR = 0.808, 95%CI = 0.669-0.976; all P < 0.05]. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under ROC curve (AUC) of PCT, LAC, SOFA score and APACHE II score predicting 28-day mortality was 0.76, 0.86, 0.81 and 0.87, respectively. The assessment values of APACHE II score and LAC were higher than PCT in predicting 28-day mortality (Z1 = 2.56, Z2 = 2.45, both P < 0.01), and the performance of SOFA score was similar to PCT. PCT, LAC, SOFA score and APACHE II score were reliable indexes to evaluate disease severity for patients diagnosed with infection. The assessment values of APACHE II score and LAC in 28-day mortality were superior to SOFA score and PCT.