Pentraxin-3 and neonatal sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Aim

The potential bond between pentraxin-3 levels and neonatal sepsis has been the center of research in many primary studies. The aim of the current meta-analysis is to examine whether there are differences among pentraxin-3 levels in septic and in healthy neonates.

Materials and Methods

Our search strategy included the systematic search of the following databases: MEDLINE, Clinicaltrials.gov, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Google Scholar, using a structured algorithm. Statistical analysis of the overall outcome was done using Revman 5.4 software while leave-one-out and meta-regression analysis were done using the R software. Quality assessment of the included studies was done using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale.

Results

Pentraxin-3 levels were found to be higher in newborns affected by sepsis than in healthy neonates with an MD = 7.66 [95% CI 0.89, 14.42 (p = .03, I² = 99%)]. Subgroup analysis, based on the country of origin of the included study, led to I² = 0 with an MD = 1.25 with 95% CI [0.82, 1.69], p < 10⁻⁵. Publication bias was assessed using the trim and fill method together with visual inspection of the funnel plots, showcasing no missing studies.

Conclusion

The results of our study show that pentraxin-3 is elevated in neonates with sepsis making it a potential biomarker that needs to be assessed for its diagnostic accuracy in future cohort studies.

Keywords:

• Neonatal sepsis
• infectious disease
• neonatal intensive care unit
• pediatric infections

Acknowledgement

No financial support was received for this review.

Author contributions

Gerasimos Panagiotis Milas: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, software, validation, visualization, writing – original draft, writing – review & editing. Vasileios Issaris: data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, software, validation, visualization, writing – original draft, writing - review & editing. Georgios Niotis: supervision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.