Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy of Interleukins and Procalcitonin in Patients with Severe Illness and Suspected Sepsis: Interleukins and Pro-calcitonin in Severe Illness and Suspected Sepsis

Abdul Hayee Phulpoto; Mahesh Kumar; Asif Aziz; Abdul Qayoom Memon; Munir Ahmed Channa; Safdar Ali Parvez

doi:10.54393/pjhs.v5i12.2348

Authors

Abdul Hayee Phulpoto Department of Medicine, Khairpur Medical College Civil Hospital, Khairpur, Pakistan
Mahesh Kumar Department of Medicine, Muhammad Medical College and Hospital, Mirpurkhas, Pakistan
Asif Aziz Department of Medicine, Gambat Medical College, Gambat, Pakistan
Abdul Qayoom Memon Department of Medicine, Khairpur Medical College Civil Hospital, Khairpur, Pakistan
Munir Ahmed Channa Department of Medicine, Muhammad Medical College and Hospital, Mirpurkhas, Pakistan
Safdar Ali Parvez Department of Medicine, Khairpur Medical College Civil Hospital, Khairpur, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54393/pjhs.v5i12.2348

Keywords:

Sepsis, Inflammation, Microbial Infection, Interleukins

Abstract

The immune system's dysregulated response to infection, known as sepsis, is a severe potentially fatal illness that results in organ failure, tissue destruction, and systemic inflammation. Objectives: To explore the correlation between levels of interleukins and pro-calcitonin and the severity of sepsis and clinical outcomes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Khairpur Medical College Civil Hospital Khairpur. The participants were n=200 including both male and female. The age range was 18-45 years. Procalcitonin levels were measured using enzyme-linked fluorescent assay and flow cytometry to elevate levels of different cytokines. Serum cytokine concentrations were compared between sepsis patients and healthy controls using the Mann-Whitney U-test for two-group comparisons. The diagnostic accuracy of cytokine levels at study entry was assessed through the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve derived from logistic regression analysis. Results: A positive culture report of microbial infectious disease was found in 100/200 (50%) of the patients after microbiological investigation. The male-to-female ratio in the investigated demographic was 3:2. Interleukin-6 levels were significantly higher, p<0.001 in the infectious diseases group than non-infectious Diseases Group. The area under the receiver operating characteristic value of interleukin-6 was found to be excellent and significantly higher (0.95(0.75-0.97)). Conclusions: Cytokines including Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-8 are strong biomarkers for diagnosing microbial infections in suspected sepsis cases, with interleukin-6 showing the highest diagnostic accuracy (AUC=0.912). Procalcitonin also demonstrated good discriminative power (AUC=0.895). While cytokines like Interleukin-2, tumor necrosis factor, and Interleukin-17A showed moderate value, interleukin-4 and interferon-gamma were less useful.

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