Correlation between C – reactive Protein and Immune Markers in Children Presenting at a Tertiary Hospital in Rivers State.

To prevent the rise in antibiotic resistance, it is essential to limit the use of antibacterial agents to only antibacterial infections. When managing paediatric infections, it is particularly important because taking a swift decision is key. The C-reactive protein is an acute phase reactant and an inflammatory marker that has been proposed in several studies to predict the presence of a bacterial infection as opposed to a viral one. Aim: The aim of this study was to establish if there was a correlation between C-reactive protein and other immune markers such as the Neutrophil -lymphocyte ratio in paediatric patients presenting at a tertiary hospital in Rivers State, Nigeria. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in a tertiary hospital in Rivers State. simple random sampling technique. Out of all the full blood count requests 51 were assayed for CRP. Data was recorded in an excel sheet and exported to SPSS version 23. Results; Most (58.5%) of the patients were in the 0-4 years age group and 60.8% had values below the cutoff range of less than 10. Most of the elevations were within the 5-8 years age group. Most (68.8%) of the patients had at least one immune marker elevated and there was a positive correlation between CRP and NLR. 85.7% of those with increased CRP had elevated NLR. Conclusion This study exploring the correlation between the C-reactive protein (CRP) and immune markers with specific focus on the Neutrophil to Lymphocyte ratio (NLR), notes significant levels of agreement between elevated levels of CRP and NLR in our environment.