SynthesisBMC infectious diseases2017
Accuracy of serum procalcitonin for the diagnosis of sepsis in neonates and children with systemic inflammatory syndrome: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC infectious diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Diagnostic accuracy of interleukin-6 (IL-6) as a significant biomarker in late-onset neonatal sepsis: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of pancreatic stone protein in patients with sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of the role of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in neonatal sepsis.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy for pediatrics with infective disease: A updated meta-analyses and trial sequential analysis.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Pooled it
- Transcript host-RNA signatures to discriminate bacterial and viral infections in febrile children.Pediatric research · 2022Pooled it
- Presepsin as a diagnostic marker of sepsis in children and adolescents: a systemic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2019Pooled it
- The combination of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein or presepsin alone improves the accuracy of diagnosis of neonatal sepsis: a meta-analysis and systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2018Pooled it
- The diagnostic accuracy of presepsin in neonatal sepsis: a meta-analysis.European journal of pediatrics · 2018Pooled it
- Diagnostic and Clinical Value of Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing for Pediatric Respiratory Infections in Northern China.The clinical respiratory journal · 2026Article
- Comparing procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels in very low birth weight infants with sepsis.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- A Comprehensive Evaluation of Rapid Diagnostic Methods in Neonatal Sepsis: Evaluating Their Accuracy, Turnaround Time, and Impact on Antibiotic Stewardship and Clinical Outcomes.Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences · 2025Article
- Utility of procalcitonin in diagnosing early postoperative sepsis after pediatric cardiac surgery in Malaysia.Acute and critical care · 2025Article
- Mitigation of sepsis-induced liver injury by Clemastine via modulating GSDMD/NLRP-3/Caspase-1/NF-κB signalling pathways.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Prevalence and overlap of white blood cell counts, procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in neonates with invasive bacterial infections.Translational pediatrics · 2025Article
- Predictive gene expression signature diagnoses neonatal sepsis before clinical presentation.EBioMedicine · 2024Article
- Understanding the Difficulties in Diagnosing Neonatal Sepsis: Assessing the Role of Sepsis Biomarkers.Journal of critical care medicine (Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Targu-Mures) · 2024Article
- Early identification and diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment of sepsis-related acute lung injury: a narrative review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2024Review
- Factors Associated with Post-rewarming Procalcitonin Levels in Newborns with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy.Turkish archives of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Biomarkers for Serious Bacterial Infections in Febrile Children.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Diagnostic Accuracy of Point-of-Care Testing of C-Reactive Protein, Interleukin-6, and Procalcitonin in Neonates with Clinically Suspected Sepsis: A Prospective Observational Study.Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre · 2024Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA number of biomarkers have been studied for the diagnosis of sepsis in paediatrics, but no gold standard has been identified. Procalcitonin (PCT) was demonstrated to be an accurate biomarker for the diagnosis of sepsis in adults and showed to be promising in paediatrics. Our study reviewed the diagnostic accuracy of PCT as an early biomarker of sepsis in neonates and children with suspected sepsis.
methodsA comprehensive literature search was carried out in Medline/Pubmed, Embase, ISI Web of Science, CINAHL and Cochrane Library, for studies assessing PCT accuracy in the diagnosis of sepsis in children and neonates with suspected sepsis. Studies in which the presence of infection had been confirmed microbiologically or classified as "probable" by chart review were included. Studies comparing patients to healthy subjects were excluded. We analysed data on neonates and children separately. Our primary outcome was the diagnostic accuracy of PCT at the cut-off of 2-2.5 ng/ml, while as secondary outcomes we analysed PCT cut-offs <2 ng/ml and >2.5 ng/ml. Pooled sensitivities and specificities were calculated by a bivariate meta-analysis and heterogeneity was graphically evaluated.
resultsWe included 17 studies, with a total of 1408 patients (1086 neonates and 322 children). Studies on neonates with early onset sepsis (EOS) and late onset sepsis (LOS) were grouped together. In the neonatal group, we calculated a sensitivity of 0.85, confidence interval (CI) (0.76; 0.90) and specificity of 0.54, CI (0.38; 0.70) at the PCT cut-off of 2.0-2.5 ng/ml. In the paediatric group it was not possible to undertake a pooled analysis at the PCT cut-off of 2.0-2.5 ng/ml, due to the paucity of the studies.
conclusionsPCT shows a moderate accuracy for the diagnosis of sepsis in neonates with suspected sepsis at the cut-off of 2.0-2.5 ng/ml. More studies with high methodological quality are warranted, particularly in neonates, studies considering EOS and LOS separately are needed to improve specificity.
trial registrationPROSPERO Identifier: CRD42016033809 . Registered 30 Jan 2016.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.