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Subject Area

Pediatrics

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective To assess the role of pancreatic stone protein (PSP) in evaluation of critically ill children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Background PSP was suggested to be a promising biomarker for determining critical illness severity among pediatric children. Patients and methods This prospective observational study was conducted on 75 critically ill children and 15 healthy controls. Serum PSP was measured in patients within 24 h of PICU admission and on healthy controls with commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results Serum level of PSP was significantly elevated among patients than controls (P < 0.001). The most common cause of PICU admission was respiratory illness (44%). Besides, C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and absolute neutrophil count were significantly elevated among patients compared with controls (P = 0.001, 0.005, and 0.012, respectively). There was no significant difference in PSP between survivors and nonsurvivors (P = 0.796). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between serum PSP and total serum bilirubin (r = 0.388, P = 0.001) and a negative correlation between serum PSP and serum total calcium (r = −0.280, P = 0.015). Conclusion PSP is an acute-phase reactant, which is suggested to be a promising biomarker for diagnosis of pediatric sepsis, but it is not useful for predicting mortality. However, its correlation with bilirubin and calcium levels suggests an indirect role in prediction of mortality among critically ill children.

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