Significance of Detection of C-Reactive Protein and Serum Procalcitonin in the Diagnosis of Febrile Disease in Children

Abstract

Objective To detect the clinical value of the levels of serum procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein(CRP)in children with febrile disease. Methods From October 2009 to October 2010, clinical data of 174 children suffered from febrile disease were recruited. According to their discharge diagnosis, they were divided into bacteria infect disease group(n=79), non-bacteria infect disease group (n=71) and rheumatic disease group(n=26). Meanwhile, another 40 cases of healthy children were recruited into control group(n=35). PCT and CRP levels were detected in all cases including thirty-five healthy control cases. The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Review Board of Investigation in Human Being of Fujian Provincial Hospital of Fujian Medical University. Informed consent was obtained from the parents of each participating child. There had no significance difference between four groups among gender, age, and complicating other diseases (P>0.05). Retrospective analytical method were conducted on the levels of CRP and PCT among four groups. Results The levels of CRP in bacteria infection disease group, non-bacteria infection disease group, rheumatic disease group and control group were (24.34±4.21) mg/L, (1.32±0.04) mg/L, (101.31±15.20) mg/L and (1.29± 0.03) mg/L, respectively. And the levels of PCT were (4.17±0.92)μg/L, (0.06±0.01)μg/L, (0.70±0.11)μg/L and (0.08±0.02)μg/L, respectively. Levels of PCT and CRP were dramatically higher in bacteria infection diseases group (P<0.01). And there were no significant difference in the levels of PCT and CRP between non-bacteria infection diseases group and control group. In rheumatic disease group, the level of CRP was much higher than that in control group (P<0.001), and the level of PCT increased a little with no significant difference compared with that in control group (P<0.05). Conclusion The measurement for the levels of serum CRP and PCT might be a valuable indicator in the diagnosis of febrile disease in children. Key words: procalcitonin; C-reactive protein; febrile disease; child