Study on Significance of C- Reactive Protein Estimation in Early Diagnosis of Neonatal Septicemia

BACKGROUND: Septicemia is major problem in neonates. Clinical criteria alone could not establish the diagnosis of neonatal septicemia. However, empirical treatment should not be delayed because of the high mortality. C- reactive protein, an acute phase protein, increases in inflammatory disorders and tissue injury. OBJECTIVES: 1. To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CRP in neonatal sepsis METHOD: A prospective study included newborn infants, aged less than 30 days and diagnosed with septicemia, who were admitted in neonatal intensive care unit at Sir T Hospital, Bhavnagar during 8- month period. This study included 200 cases in which 100 were culture proven septicemia and 100 normal newborn. Investigations for infection included CBC, blood culture and urine culture. RESULTS: As per present study, sensitivity of Serum CRP is 91 % and specificity being 94 % with NPV of 91.2 % suggesting its beneficial role in diagnosing sepsis. As per the study, Serum CRP was positive in 91 % of culture proven sepsis and negative in 9 % of cases. p value of the test applied for the statistical significance is less than 0.05 which implies that the result is statistically significant for CRP. CONCLUSION: CRP is most commonly used laboratory test for neonatal bacterial infection and despite the continuing emergence of new infection markers it still plays a central role in the diagnosis of early onset neonatal septicemia.