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. 2018 Jun 13:11:217-223.
doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S165190. eCollection 2018.

Association of serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels with CURB-65 criteria among patients with community-acquired pneumonia

Fariba Keramat  1   2 , Hamid Reza Ghasemi Basir  3 , Elham Abdoli  2 , Arghavan Shafiei Aghdam  4 , Jalal Poorolajal  5
Affiliations

Association of serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels with CURB-65 criteria among patients with community-acquired pneumonia

Fariba Keramat et al. Int J Gen Med. .

Abstract

Background: The concentration of diagnostic markers such as inflammatory biomarkers including procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) increases in bacterial infections. The aim of this study was to compare serum PCT and CRP levels with CURB-65 ranking, in the patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Patients and methods: In a cross-sectional study, 93 hospitalized patients with a definite diagnosis of CAP, considering inclusion and exclusion criteria, were enrolled. Serum PCT and CRP levels and their relations with CURB-65 criteria were assessed.

Results: The mean serum levels of PCT and CRP were 3.64±12.32 ng/mL and 75.01±51.93 mg/L, respectively. There was a statistically significant association between CURB-65 criteria and serum levels of PCT (P=0.0001) and CRP (P=0.007), which means that the concentration of these two inflammatory biomarkers increased with an increase in the score of CURB-65 criteria. Moreover, there was a statistically significant association between the serum level of PCT and the outcomes of the disease (P<0.001).

Conclusion: According to the results, the serum level of PCT or CRP is a strong prognostic factor for evaluating severity of CAP and is a suitable factor for the CURB-65 criteria in the decision making of whether a patient with CAP in the ICU should be admitted.

Keywords: C-reactive protein; CURB-65; community-acquired pneumonia; procalcitonin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Association between serum levels of CRP (red line) and PCT (blue line) with CURB-65 criteria in the patients with CAP. Abbreviations: CURB-65; CAP, community-acquired pneumonia; CRP, C-reactive protein; PCT, procalcitonin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve illustrating the predictive ability of PCT against CURB-65 parameters. Note: Area under ROC curve = 0.7150. Abbreviations: CURB-65; PCT, procalcitonin.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve illustrating the predictive ability of CRP against CURB-65 parameters. Note: Area under ROC curve = 0.6068. Abbreviations: CURB-65, CRP, C-reactive protein.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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