Procalcitonin and valuable clinical symptoms in the early detection of neonatal late-onset bacterial infection

Aim: To evaluate which clinical symptoms indicate proven neonatal bacterial infection (NBI) and whether measuring procalcitonin aside from C‐reactive protein and interleukin 6 improves sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis. Methods: In a prospective observational study, clinical symptoms and procalcitonin, C‐reactive protein and interleukin 6 were simultaneously determined from the 4th day of life in 170 preterm and term neonates at the first time of suspicion of NBI. Proven NBI was defined as a positive culture of otherwise sterile body fluids or radiologically verified pneumonia in combination with elevated inflammatory markers. Results: Fifty‐eight (34%) patients were diagnosed with proven late‐onset NBI. In case of proven NBI, odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were 2.64 (1.06–6.54) for arterial hypotension, 5.16 (2.55–10.43) for feeding intolerance and 9.18 (4.10–20.59) for prolonged capillary refill. Sensitivity of combined determination of C‐reactive protein (>10 mg/L) and interleukin 6 (>100 pg/mL) was 91.4%, specificity 80.4%, positive predictive value 70.7% and negative predictive value 94.7%. The additional determination of procalcitonin (>0.7 ng/mL) resulted in 98.3%, 65.2%, 58.8% and 98.6%, respectively. Conclusion: Arterial hypotension, feeding intolerance and especially prolonged capillary refill indicate proven neonatal late‐onset bacterial infection, even at the time of first suspicion. Additional measurement of procalcitonin does indeed improve sensitivity to nearly 100%, but is linked to a decline in specificity. Nevertheless, in the high‐risk neonatal population, additional procalcitonin measurement can be recommended because all infants with NBI have to be identified.