Predictive value of serum inflammatory markers for histological chorioamnionitis among women with preterm premature rupture of membranes after undergoing cervical cerclage

PURPOSE: To determine the predictive value of maternal White Blood Cells (WBC), neutrophils, and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) for diagnosing Histological Chorioamnionitis (HCA) among women with Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes (PPROM) who underwent cervical cerclage. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted among women with singleton pregnancy and PPROM, who underwent cervical cerclage during 2018–2020. RESULTS: A total of 55 eligible women were included in the final analysis, including 36 (61.02%) cases with HCA and 19 (38.98%) without HCA. Women with HCA had higher WBC count (12.31 ± 2.80) × 10(9)/L and neutrophil count (9.67 ± 2.90)×10(9)/L than those without HCA (10.35 ± 2.53) × 10(9)/L and 7.82 ± 2.82 × 10(9)/L, respectively) (both p < 0.05). The cut-off value of WBC count at 10.15×10(9)/L was found to be the most effective in identifying HCA, with an Area Under Curve (AUC) of 0.707 (95% CI: 0.56–0.86; p = 0.012), sensitivity of 86.11%, specificity of 57.90%, Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of 79.49%, Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of 68.75%, and Youden index of 0.44. The combination of WBC + neutrophil had a slightly higher (AUC = 0.711, 95% CI: 0.57–0.86; p = 0.011), specificity (68.42%), and PPV (81.25%), but lower sensitivity (72.22%), than the WBC count alone. A cut-off value of neutrophil at 7.46 × 109/L was effective in identifying HCA, with an AUC of 0.689 (95% CI: 0.53–0.84; p = 0.022). DISCUSSION: Combination use of WBC+neutrophil was found to be the most accurate predictor of HCA among women with PPROM after surgery of cervical cerclage.