Elevated C-reactive protein in umbilical cord blood: Neonatal case review

C-reactive protein (CRP) has limited placental transportability. Relying on CRP level in umbilical cord blood alone is an inaccurate way to predict early onset neonatal sepsis, and we retrospectively reviewed the clinical courses of neonates with elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood.

This study was a retrospective case review of neonates with elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood (>0.5 mg/dL) in the Nara Prefecture General Medical Center, Nara, Japan between February 2013 and August 2017. We investigated the association of maternal and neonatal factors with neonatal clinical course. Then, we compared the cases of neonates with and without elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood.

The subjects consisted of a total of 22 neonates with elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood and 344 neonates without elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood. Of the 22 neonates with elevated CRP, 18 had some symptoms of sepsis at birth, but the symptoms of 85% of the symptomatic patients resolved ≤24 h after birth. Two neonates with elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood had bacteremia, and they had poor prognoses. Elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood was associated with length of antimicrobials (P = 0.021), immature/total neutrophil ratio (P = 0.017), and pathological chorioamnionitis (CAM; P = 0.028) on multivariable logistic regression analysis.

Elevated CRP in umbilical cord blood was associated with pathological CAM. Most symptoms of sepsis resolved <24 h after birth.