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Data from: The interest of inflammatory biomarkers in the diagnostic approach

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Oct 20, 2023 version files 24.63 KB

Abstract

Background: The role of inflammatory biomarkers in the etiological orientation is increasingly under study, and their potential significance is recognized.

Methods: Procalcitonin (PCT), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), C-reactive-protein (CRP), fibrinogen, ferritinaemia and lactate were measured on admission in all patients. The optimal cut-off values for the sensitivities and specificities to the infectious diseases were determined using the receiver operating curve(ROC) analysis and Youden's index. The diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers and their combinations for predicting infectious etiologies was calculated by area under the curve(AUC).

Results: A total of 164 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 50.7 ± 18 years [18 – 92 years]. Fifty-three patients (32.3%) were over 65 years old. Patients were split into four groups: 53 patients (32.3%) with infectious diseases of which 45 patients (84.9%) presented bacterial infections, 62 patients (37.8%) with inflammatory diseases, 14 patients (8.5%) with neoplasms and 35 patients (21.3%) with other diagnosis. The high mean levels of Leukocytes (12047 cells/mm3, Neutrophils (9015 cells/mm3), Neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio (NLR) (9.7), C reactive protein (CRP) (152.5 mg/L), Procalcitonin (PCT)(3.28 ng/ml)and fibrinogen (5.37g/L) were associated to infectious etiologies with statistically significant differences. Thus, we identified cut-offs of NLR(6.1), CRP (123 mg/L),PCT(0.24 ng/mL) and fibrinogen (4.9 g/L) to discriminate infectious etiologies in our population. For diagnosing infectious diseases, the CRP showed higher AUC( Area under the curve) (Sp: 89.7%, Se: 64.3%, AUC=0.9, CI: 0.83-0.96, p<10-3) than PCT (Sp: 86.1%,Se: 62.3%, AUC=0,87, CI:0.80-0.93, p<10-3), NLR (Sp: 87.1%, Se: 61%, AUC=0.81, CI: 0.731- 0.902, p <10-3) and Fibrinogen (Sp: 84.7%, Se:68.3%, AUC=0.77, CI: 0.65 – 0.98, p<10-3).The combination of CRP and NLR levels improved the diagnostic accuracy (AUC 0.93, 95% CI 0.84–0.96; p< 10-3) for distinguishing between infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Conclusions: Our study is characterized by the variety of included disease categories. It showed the usefulness of inflammatory biomarkers, particularly the NLR and its combination with CRP, which are low cost and easy to assess, in promoting the diagnostic accuracy to distinguish infections among inflammatory, neoplasia and other diagnoses.