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Umbilical Cord Blood Serum Procalcitonin Concentration in the Diagnosis of Early Neonatal Infection

Journal of Perinatology volume 23, pages 148–153 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate serum procalcitonin concentration in umbilical cord blood for diagnosis of intrauterine bacterial infection.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study was conducted between 2000 and 2001. Serum procalcitonin concentrations were evaluated in 187 umbilical cord blood samples. Five groups have been defined: controls A (n=37), full-term noninfected B1 (n=80) and infected neonates B2 (n=8), preterm noninfected C1 (n=38) and infected C2 (n=24) newborns. An immunoluminometric assay was used to determine procalcitonin concentration. The Mann–Whitney U-test and Spearman's correlation ratio were applied. The sensitivity and specificity, the positive and negative predictive values, and the area under receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated.

RESULTS: A statistically higher serum procalcitonin concentration was found in the preterm infected group (p<0.005; C2 vs A and C1).

CONCLUSION: Serum procalcitonin concentration in umbilical cord blood may be a useful parameter in the diagnosis of early neonatal infection.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grant KBN 4 P05E 138 19.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology, Pomeranian Academy of Medicine, Szczecin, Poland

    Agnieszka Kordek MD, Beata Pawlus MD & Ryszard Czajka MD

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Pomeranian Academy of Medicine, Szczecin, Poland

    Stefania Giedrys-Kalemba MD

  3. Department of Medical Physics, Pomeranian Academy of Medicine, Szczecin, Poland

    Wojciech Podraza MD

Authors
  1. Agnieszka Kordek MD
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  2. Stefania Giedrys-Kalemba MD
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  5. Ryszard Czajka MD
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Serum procalcitonin concentration in umbilical cord blood may be a useful parameter in the diagnosis of intrauterine bacterial infection in newborn infants.

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Kordek, A., Giedrys-Kalemba, S., Pawlus, B. et al. Umbilical Cord Blood Serum Procalcitonin Concentration in the Diagnosis of Early Neonatal Infection. J Perinatol 23, 148–153 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7210885

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