Predictive Value of C-Reactive Protein-to-Albumin Ratio for Neonatal Sepsis

Previous studies have reported that C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) was a risk factor for sepsis in adults. However, little is known regarding the role of CAR in neonates with sepsis. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between CAR and neonatal sepsis.

In this research, from January 2016 to February 2020, a total of 1076 neonates were enrolled at Henan Children's Hospital in China. Complete clinical and laboratory data were collected. To identify the potential independent risk factor for neonatal sepsis, multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the prediction accuracy of CAR in identifying neonatal sepsis.

CAR levels were higher in neonates with sepsis and showed a gradual increase among the control group, mild sepsis group and severe sepsis group. The prevalence of neonates with overall sepsis, mild sepsis and severe sepsis increased significantly from CAR tertile 1 to tertile 3. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that CAR was an independent risk factor for the presence of sepsis (OR = 10.144, 95% CI 4.151-24.790, P < 0.001) and severe sepsis (OR = 1.876, 95% CI 1.562-2.253, P < 0.001). ROC curve analysis showed that CAR had a well discriminatory power in predicting sepsis (area under curve (AUC) = 0.74, 95% CI, 0.71-0.77, P < 0.001) and severe sepsis (AUC = 0.70, 95% CI, 0.67-0.74, P < 0.001).

CAR was an independent predictor for the presence and severity of neonatal sepsis.