We investigated the clinical value of whole blood procalcitonin using point of care testing, quick sequential organ failure assessment score, C-reactive protein and lactate in emergency department patients with suspected infection and assessed the accuracy of the whole blood procalcitonin test by point-of-care testing. Participants were randomly selected from emergency department patients who complained of a febrile sense, had suspected infection and underwent serum procalcitonin testing. Whole blood procalcitonin levels by point-of-care testing were compared with serum procalcitonin test results from the laboratory. Participants were divided into two groups-those with bacteremia and those without bacteremia. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value of procalcitonin, lactate and Quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment scores were investigated in each group. Area under receiving operating curve of C-reactive protein, lactate and procalcitonin for predicting bacteremia and 28-day mortality were also evaluated. Whole blood procalcitonin had an excellent correlation with serum procalcitonin. The negative predictive value of procalcitonin and lactate was over 90%. Area under receiving operating curve results proved whole blood procalcitonin to be fair in predicting bacteremia or 28-day mortality. In the emergency department, point-of-care testing of whole blood procalcitonin is as accurate as laboratory testing. Moreover, procalcitonin is a complementing test together with lactate for predicting 28-days mortality and bacteremia for patients with suspected infection.
Keywords: bacteremia; mortality; point-of-care testing; procalcitonin.