Role of Procalcitonin in Predicting Mortality and Organ Dysfunction at Intensive Care Admission

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prognostic utility of procalcitonin (PCT) in high-risk sepsis patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted with the inclusion of all eligible intensive care unit patients with Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score of 2 or more. RESULTS: A total of 228 patients were acquired from January 2018 to December 2020, with male predominant (58.8%), mean age of 53.61 years old. The overall 28-day mortality was 57.5%. In the group with PCT ≥ 7 ng/mL, 28-day mortality was 68.5% (87 patients out of a total of 127). Cox regression showed that in this group, the risk of mortality occurring within 28 days from the day of ICU admission was 1.55 times higher (95% CI 1.074–2252, p value 0.02). Independent sample t-test showed that in this group, the mean SOFA score was higher by 2.279 (95% CI 1.497–3.060, p value <0.001). CONCLUSION: Procalcitonin levels are associated with mortality and SOFA scores in sepsis patients. Further studies need to be carried out to provide more evidence so that it can help reduce the mortality and morbidity of sepsis.