Clinical significance of the detection of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in the intensive care unit

The identification significance of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) levels in the intensive care unit patients with combined infection and their prognostic effects of patients with sepsis was investigated. A total of 203 patients were divided into the sepsis (n=60) and the non-sepsis group (n=143). The predictive effects of CRP and PCT levels in patients in the intensive care unit on sepsis and their effects on the prognosis of patients with sepsis were analyzed. The results showed that CRP and PCT levels in patients in the sepsis were higher than those in the non-sepsis group (P<0.05); CRP and PCT levels in patients who died of sepsis at 1 week and 2 weeks after admission were not statistically different to those before admission (P>0.05); CRP and PCT levels in patients surviving sepsis at 1 week after admission were significantly decreased compared with those at admission (P<0.05). CRP and PCT levels in patients at 2 weeks after admission were significantly decreased compared with those at admission (P<0.05). CRP and PCT levels in patients who died of sepsis were higher than those surviving sepsis (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the higher the CRP and PCT levels were, the worse the patients' conditions would be, and the higher the risk of death would be (r=0.732, P=0.012; r=0.826, P=0.007); besides, PCT had a higher value in predicting the poor prognosis of patients [PCT: Area under the curve (AUC)=0.734, CRP: AUC=0.699]; the univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that CRP, PCT and age may be the risk factors for poor prognosis in patients. CRP and PCT can be used to identify whether the patients in the intensive care unit are infected or not. The dynamic monitoring of CRP and PCT has important clinical significance in predicting the prognosis of patients with sepsis.