Serum procalcitonin levels in predicting the prognosis of severe pneumonia patients and its correlation with white blood cell count and C-reactive protein levels

摘要

Objective: To investigate the expression of procalcitonin (PCT) in severe pneumonia patients and its correlation with white blood cell count (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and to further analyze the values of PCT, WBC and CRP levels in predicting the prognosis of severe pneumonia. Methods: First, 74 patients with severe pneumonia were selected as the severe pneumonia group. At the same time, 74 patients with general pneumonia and 74 healthy people were selected as the mild to moderate pneumonia group and control group, respectively. Then, the levels of PCT, WBC and CRP in these three groups was compared, and the correlation between PCT levels and WBC or CRP levels in the severe pneumonia group was analyzed. In addition, the patients in severe pneumonia group were further divided into a survival group (52 cases) and a death group (22 cases) according to the prognosis. PCT, WBC and CRP levels of the survival group and death group were compared, and the clinical value of the individual and combined detection of each index in predicting the prognosis of patients was further analyzed. Results: The level of PCT, WBC and CRP in the severe pneumonia group was significantly higher than that in the mild to moderate pneumonia group and control group (P < 0.05). The level of these three indexes in the death group was also significantly higher than that in the survival group (P < 0.05),In the severe pneumonia group, PCT level was positively correlated with the level of WBC and CRP (the correlation coefficients are 0.585, 0.774, respectively). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under prognostic curve (AUC) of PCT, CRP and WBC were 0.825, 0.760 and 0.619, respectively; while the prognostic AUC of PCT combined with CRP was 0.834. Conclusion: Significant increases of serum PCT, WBC and CRP levels in severe pneumonia patients were found, and PCT level was positively correlated with both WBC and CRP levels. PCT detection has high clinical value in evaluating the prognosis of severe pneumonia patients.