Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) as a Predictor of Severity of Sepsis in Patients Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit: A Cross-Sectional Study From North India

Background: Sepsis is a common clinical syndrome in critical patients in the medical intensive care unit. Many scoring systems and biomarkers are introduced to detect unfavorable outcomes in sepsis patients. This study aims to identify pentraxin 3 (PTX3) as a predictor of sepsis in patients who are critically ill and admitted to intensive care units. Materials and methods: This prospective observational survey purposively included 100 patients with sepsis identified by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines in the medical intensive care unit at one of the apex care centers in North India. Socio-demographic and clinical profiles were collected using a structured and validated checklist. Simple and multi-linear regression analyses were used to determine PTX3 as a predictor of sepsis. Results: A total of 100 patients were prospectively observed. Among them, 61% were males, and 39% were females, with a mean age of 50.78 (±13.53) years. From nine potential predictors, lactate (95% CI: 1.048-1.890, B: 1.469, p < 0.001), procalcitonin (95% CI: 0.136-0.270, B: 0.203, p < 0.001), and SOFA (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) scores (95% CI: 0.112-0.450, B: 0.281, p = 0.001) significantly predict the changes in PTX3 level (R-square: 0.842, adjusted R-square: 0.826) in patients. Conclusions: PTX3 was found to correlate with the severity of sepsis as SOFA score and other markers like lactate, procalcitonin, and APACHE-II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II) score.