Interleukin-6 for early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis with premature rupture of the membranes: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) is the principal risk factor for neonatal sepsis. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been investigated for early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, but not for diagnosis of neonatal sepsis with PROM. The objective of this study is to investigate the early diagnostic value of IL-6 for neonatal sepsis with PROM. METHODS: The literature was searched using PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, Wan Fang, VIP, and CBM databases until March 2018. Each study was evaluated using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool-2. We used a bivariate diagnostic random-effects model. RESULTS: The overall pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood rate, negative likelihood rate, diagnostic odds ratio, and area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.81–0.91), 0.88 (95% CI: 0.86–0.91), 9.94 (95% CI: 4.27–23.15), 0.14 (95% CI: 0.06–0.32), 79.26 (95% CI: 23.42–268.26), and 0.9473, respectively, which showed high accuracy in diagnosing neonatal sepsis with PROM. The types of sepsis might be connected with the source of heterogeneity (P = .0351). CONCLUSION: IL-6 is therefore a sensitive and specific diagnostic marker for the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis with PROM.