Diagnostic Value of Procalcitonin and C reactive Protein for Infection and Sepsis in Elderly Patients

Introduction Biomarkers are useful for diagnosing infection and sepsis in adults, but data are limited in elderly patients. Furthermore, clinical symptoms of infection in elderly patients are usually atypical or unclear. We aimed to assess the usefulness of PCT, CRP, and WBC in distinguishing elderly patients infected with sepsis from infected without sepsis and those with no infection. We also aimed to find a cut-off value for diagnosing sepsis and infection without sepsis in elderly critically ill patients. Methods In this single-center and prospective observational study, patients older than 65 years were enrolled. Serum levels of PCT, CRP, and WBC were measured within 24 hours. Patients were allocated into sepsis(S), infected without sepsis (IWS), and no-infection (NI) groups. Data were analyzed with Mann-Whitney?s U test and Kruskal- Wallis test. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the accuracies of the biomarkers in diagnosing IWS and S. Results We analyzed 188 patients with a mean age of 77,05 ±7.4 in the study; 95 (50.5%) of them were women. 64 (34%) of whom were classified as IWS, 29 (15%) as S, and 95 (50.5%) as NI group. There were significant differences in the PCT, CRP levels between the IWS and NI, S and NI (p