Diagnostic Value of Procalcitonin in Well-Appearing Young Febrile Infants

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Procalcitonin (PCT) has been introduced in many European protocols for the management of febrile children. Its value among young, well-appearing infants, however, is not completely defined. Our objective was to assess its performance in diagnosing serious bacterial infections and specifically invasive bacterial infections (IBIs) in well-appearing infants aged <3 months with fever without source (FWS).

METHODS: Well-appearing infants aged <3 months with FWS admitted to 7 European pediatric emergency departments were retrospectively included. IBI was defined as the isolation of a bacterial pathogen in blood or cerebrospinal fluid culture.

RESULTS: We included 1112 infants who had PCT measured and a blood culture performed. IBI was diagnosed in 23 cases (2.1%). In the multivariate analysis including clinical and laboratory data, PCT was the only independent risk factor for IBI (odds ratio 21.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] 7.93–59.28 for PCT ≥0.5 ng/mL). Positive likelihood ratios for PCT ≥2 ng/mL and C-reactive protein (CRP) >40 mg/L were 11.14 (95% CI 7.81–15.89) and 3.45 (95% CI 2.20–5.42), respectively. Negative likelihood ratios for PCT <0.5 ng/mL and CRP <20 mg/L were 0.25 (95% CI 0.12–0.55) and 0.41 (95% CI 0.22–0.76). Among patients with normal urine dipstick results and fever of recent onset, areas under the receiver operator characteristic curve for PCT and CRP were 0.819 and 0.563, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Among well-appearing young infants with FWS, PCT performs better than CRP in identifying patients with IBIs and seems to be the best marker for ruling out IBIs. Among patients with normal urine dipstick results and fever of recent onset, PCT remains the most accurate blood test.