Interest of Serum Procalcitonin in the Diagnosis of Early Neonatal Bacterial Infections in Kisangani

Introduction: Blood culture remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of neonatal infections, however, it is not always available and even when it is accessible, obtaining the result requires 48 - 72 hours. For this, there is a need to use early, sensitive and specific biomarkers. This study aimed to evaluate the interest of procalcitonin in the diagnosis of Early Neonatal Bacterial Infection (INBP) in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from June 28, 2023 to January 15, 2024. A blood culture sample and procalcitonin assay were taken from any newborn suspected of INBP. The calculation of medians, percentages and statistical analyses of the characteristics of the test performance were carried out with R software version 4.4.2. Results: One hundred and twenty-three newborns suspected of INBP were divided into 3 groups, including 5 (4.1%) cases of definite infection with positive blood culture, 81 (65.8%) cases of probable infection with positive PCT and 37 (30.1%) cases without infection. The median PCT of the definite infection group was higher than that of the probable infection group. All 5 cases positive in blood culture also had positive PCT. The threshold of PCT positivity was 2.97 ng/ml, and the sensitivity and specificity were 80.0% and 67.8%, respectively. Conclusion: PCT has been shown to be useful in contributing to the diagnosis of INBP. It could help with the early establishment of INB in our setting and thus facilitate early management.