Age-specific percentile-based reference curve of serum procalcitonin concentrations in Japanese preterm infants

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 23871
• Main Authors: Fukuzumi, Noriko, Osawa, Kayo, Sato, Itsuko, Iwatani, Sota, Ishino, Ruri, Hayashi, Nobuhide, Iijima, Kazumoto, Saegusa, Jun, Morioka, Ichiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.04.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/308/3187; 692/53/2421; Age; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Baby foods; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial Infections - blood; Biomarkers; Calcitonin - blood; Enterobacter cloacae; Enterobacteriaceae Infections - blood; Enterobacteriaceae Infections - microbiology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gestational Age; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature - blood; Infant, Premature, Diseases - blood; Infants; Male; multidisciplinary; Newborn babies; Physiology; Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated - blood; Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated - microbiology; Premature babies; Procalcitonin; Pseudomonas Infections - blood; Reference Values; Science; Sepsis; Sepsis - blood
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep23871

Procalcitonin (PCT) levels are elevated early after birth in newborn infants; however, the physiological features and reference of serum PCT concentrations have not been fully studied in preterm infants. The aims of the current study were to establish an age-specific percentile-based reference curve of serum PCT concentrations in preterm infants and determine the features. The PCT concentration peaked in infants at 1 day old and decreased thereafter. At 1 day old, serum PCT concentrations in preterm infants <34 weeks’ gestational age were higher than those in late preterm infants between 34 and 36 weeks’ gestational age or term infants ≥37 weeks’ gestational age. Although the 50-percentile value in late preterm and term infants reached the adult normal level (0.1 ng/mL) at 5 days old, it did not in preterm infants. It took 9 weeks for preterm infants to reach it. Serum PCT concentrations at onset in late-onset infected preterm infants were over the 95-percentile value. We showed that the physiological feature in preterm infants was significantly different from that in late preterm infants, even in those <37 weeks’ gestational age. To detect late-onset bacterial infection and sepsis, an age-specific percentile-based reference curve may be useful in preterm infants.