Comparison between inflammatory markers predicting bacteremias

What is it about?

Infectious diseases are the most frequent cause of inflammation, which is usually detected by the use of the inflammatory markers procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP). During inflammation, these inflammatory markers increase to values higher than the standard value, but abnormal values also can be observed – depending on the type of marker – as a result of inflammatory conditions, such as malignancies, acute myocardial infarction, trauma and collagen disorders other than bacterial infection. The specificity and sensitivity of inflammatory markers in the diagnosis of infectious disease varies depending on the marker . Although CRP is widely used as an inflammatory marker, CRP also increases nonspecifically in inflammatory diseases other than bacterial infection. On the other hand, PCT increases during bacterial infection and sepsis, with PCT blood concentrations increasing more rapidly after infectious disease onset; because PCT has a long half-life in blood, the blood levels remain high for a long time

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Why is it important?

The elevation of CRP and PCT were significantly associated with bacteremias. PCT values were statistically higher in populations with GNR infections than in those with GPC infections. PCT was superior to CRP as a diagnostic indicator for predicting bacteremias, for discriminating bacterial from nonbacterial infections, and for determining bacterial species. Moreover, when the PCT value was ≥ 2.0, onset of bacteremias was indicated. Thus, PCT is a better diagnostic marker than CRP for the detection of bacterial infections.