The Role of Fecal Calprotectin as Marker for Diagnoses of Intestinal Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases at Endoscopic Clinic, Sana’a-Yemen

Background: Fecal calprotectin (FC) has become a promising noninvasive indicator for identifying intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Nevertheless, the accuracy of FC as a diagnostic tool, especially within the context of an endoscopy clinic in Sana'a, Yemen, has not been thoroughly investigated. Aim: To assess the level of fecal calprotectin as a marker for intestinal inflammation in the Sana'a population of IBD at endoscopic clinics. Methods: A hospital-based, cross-sectional study was done from January 2022 to March 2024. Patients with suspected or known IBD who were undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy were included in the study. Stool samples were gathered from patients before undergoing colonoscopy, and FC levels were assessed through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Colonoscopic and histological results were obtained to establish a correlation with FC levels. Statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate diagnostic accuracy. Results: A total of 165 patients, with 78.2% being male and 21.8% female, and the mean age was 41.3 years. Among the patients, 59 (35.8%) who tested positive for FC displayed intestinal inflammation related to IBD, while 67 (40.6%) who tested negative for FC also showed signs of intestinal inflammation in IBD. FC demonstrated a diagnostic precision of 1.3 for predicting IBD, although this finding was non-significant, p > .05. The sensitivity measured at 46.8% and specificity at 46.2%. Conclusion: FC does not serve as a reliable marker for diagnosing intestinal inflammation in individuals with IBD. Logistic regression indicated that FC was a non-significant predictor for IBD, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.535, signifying poor discrimination ability..