Can the main infectious laboratory data estimate blood culture positivity in the emergency department

Aims: The aim of this study was to predict the positivity of patients admitted to the emergency department with blood cultures according to laboratory results.Method: Patients admitted to a university emergency department in the previous year with blood cultures were retrospectively analysed, and laboratory and vital signs were compared with blood culture positivity.Results: Retrospective analysis of patients whose blood cultures were obtained in the emergency department showed that increases in C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT), which are acute phase reactants, correlated with blood culture positivity. In addition, the increase in fever, which is one of the vital signs, was also correlated with blood culture positivity. When the laboratory values in our study were analysed, it was found that blood culture was positive when the CRP value was 171.15 ± 121.344 mg/L, and the PCT value was 14.30 ± 25.910 µg/L.Conclusion: As a result of our study, we found that blood culture positivity can be poorly predicted in patients with high CRP and PCT who present to the emergency department, especially due to infection findings.