Combination of Procalcitonin, CRP and CD11b Biomarkers in Early Detection of Neonatal Sepsis

The study aimed at comparing the diagnostic performances of CRP, PCT and CD11b in neonatal sepsis and evaluating the effectiveness of the sepsis score system when using a combination of various biomarkers. The study was conducted on 90 neonates divided into 3 equal groups; a group with proven sepsis, suspected sepsis and healthy newborns. All were subjected to measurement of CPR by Latex agglutination, serum Procalcitonin by ELISA and CD11b by flow cytometry. On comparing the three biomarkers; PCT (Serum procalcitonin) was associated with the highest (AUC) area under the curve followed by CD11b and CRP recording the smallest value. However, the AUC of the combined sepsis score was much higher than individual biomarkers. Although the sensitivity of individual biomarkers from procalcitonin to CD11b and lastly CRP but the sensitivity and specificity of the sepsis score showed higher values compared to those of individual biomarkers. In conclusion, the study demonstrate that combination of CRP, CD11b and, procalcitonin can enhance diagnostic discriminative power over traditional tests and overcome the drawbacks of each test alone with greater diagnostic accuracy.