The Relationship Between Procalcitonin Level and Short Term Mortality in Emergency Department

Abstract

Aim: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker for infection, which has grown in popularity in recent years. In our study, we investigated whether there was a relationship between procalcitonin levels and seven-day mortality in all patients whose procalcitonin levels were measured in the emergency department (ED).
 
 Material and Methods: In this single-center, cross-sectional, analytic, retrospective study, the patients whose PCT levels were measured in Dokuz Eylül University Hospital adult emergency department between 01.01.2016 and 31.03.2016 were included. PCT level and other parameters were evaluated in the survived and non- survived groups,
 
 Results: We analyzed 499 patients whose PCT levels were measured. The median age was 74 (IQR: 63-82) years, and 54% were male. Of the 499 patients, 6 (1.2%) had a low procalcitonin level (median 0.03: IQR 0.02-0.04), 407 (81.6%) had an intermediate procalcitonin level (median 0.26; IQR 0.16-0.54) and 86 (17.2%) had a high procalcitonin level (median 5.54; IQR 3.20-15.31). When the PCT level-high group was compared with the other groups; systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), platelet count, pCO2 were lower and pulse rate, WBC, lactate, base excess values were higher. It was found that 249 (49.9%) of the patients were discharged from the ED, 112 (22.4%) were hospitalized, 66 (13.2%) were hospitalized in the intensive care unit, and 72 (14.4%) died. The PCT level was higher in the non-survivor group than in the survivor group (0.29 ngr/mL vs 1.07 ngr/mL, p