The use of procalcitonin in the diagnosis of late-onset infection in neonatal intensive care unit patients

Abstract

We evaluated the semi-quantitative procalcitonin level for diagnosing late-onset infections in 176 neonates. Using a cut-off level of 0.5ng/ml, the sensitivity was 84.4%±0.19, specificity was 93.9%±0.04, positive predictive value was 82.6%±0.1, and negative predictive value was 94.6%±0.04. Procalcitonin could be a useful marker of late-onset infection in neonates.