A Prospective Study of Presepsin as an Indicator of the Severity of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Emergency Departments: Comparison with Pneumonia Severity Index and CURB-65 Scores

Prognostic Value of Plasma Presepsin and Pneumonia Severity Index in Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Emergency Department

Background and Objectives: Presepsin (PSS) is an independent predictor for estimating disease severity and prognosis in septic patients. Few studies have reported the associations between plasma PSS and the severity and prognosis in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). We investigated whether a high plasma PSS level was associated with 30-day mortality in CAP patients. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center study was conducted in an emergency department. The PSS level was measured in 211 adult CAP patients admitted to the hospital and followed for up to 30 days. We recorded the pneumonia severity index (PSI) and the CURB-65 score. The primary outcome was death from any cause within 30 days. Results: The plasma PSS levels were significantly elevated in the high-risk group (PSI > 130) compared with the low- (PSI < 91) or moderate-risk groups (PSI 91−130). Forty-four patients (20.9%) died within 30 days of admission. Non-survivors had significantly higher plasma PSS levels than survivors among CAP patients: 1083 (697−1736) pg/mL vs. 385 (245−554) pg/mL (p < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) to predict 30-day mortality was highest for PSS (0.867), followed by procalcitonin (0.728) and lactate (0.616). The cutoff level of plasma PSS for 30-day mortality was >754 pg/mL. The combination of PSI and plasma PSS level improved the predictive ability for 30-day mortality (AUC = 0.892). Cox regression analysis showed that higher PSS levels (>754 pg/mL) and higher PSI (>126) were associated with 30-day mortality in CAP patients (hazard ratios of 19.472 and 6.375, respectively). Conclusion: Elevated plasma PSS is associated with severity and 30-day mortality in hospitalized CAP patients. Combining plasma PSS level and PSI could significantly improve the predictive ability of PSS for 30-day mortality.

Use of infection biomarkers in the emergency department

The use of infection biomarkers in the emergency department is discussed in terms of their possible contributions to diagnostic-prognostic uncertainties, appropriate antibiotic treatments, and triage and follow-up planning. Procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), proadrenomedullin (proADM), and presepsin are among the most discussed infection biomarkers for use in the emergency department. Due to the variable sensitivity results and cutoff values, there are insufficient data to recommend the widespread use of CRP and procalcitonin (PCT) for the diagnosis and prognosis of infection in the emergency department. However, these biomarkers can be used for appropriate antibiotic use in selected infection groups, such as community-acquired pneumonia, especially to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing. With its prognostic superiority over other biomarkers and its contribution to prognostic score systems in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), proADM can be used to predict hospitalization, preferably within the scope of clinical studies. Although presepsin has been shown to have some advantages over other biomarkers to rule out sepsis, there are insufficient data for its clinical use in the emergency department.

Presepsin as a Predictive Biomarker of Severity in COVID-19: A Systematic Review

Background

Data retrieval

Results

Conclusion

How to cite this article

Presepsin in risk stratification of SARS-CoV-2 patients

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To evaluate in SARS-CoV-2 patients the behavior of presepsin .

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To compare the informations provided with those of other inflammatory biomarkers.

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To provide new biochemical informations in patients suffering from SARS-CoV-2.

Background

A severe form of pneumonia, is the leading complication of the respiratory Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), recently renamed SARS-CoV-2. Soluble cluster of differentiation (CD)14 subtype (sCD14-ST also termed presepsin PSP) is a regulatory factor that modulates immune responses by interacting with T and B cells, useful for early diagnosis, prognosis and risk stratification prediction.

Methods

In 75 consecutive patients suffering from COVID-19 microbiology proven infection, admitted to intensive care unit (ICU, n = 21, 28%) and/or in infectious disease ward (IW, n = 54, 72%), PSP (Pathfast, Mitsubishi, Japan) has been measured in addition to routine laboratory tests performed during the period of hospitalization (from January to March 2020).

Results

PSP demonstrates: -statistically significant higher values (Mann-Whitney test) in 6 patients died (median, IQR = 1046, 763–1240; vs 417, 281–678 ng/L, p < 0.05); -statistically significant but poor correlations with CRP (r = 0.59, p < 0.001), LDH (r = 0.52, p < 0.001) and PCT (r = 0.72, p < 0.001) measured at the same day; -a significant relationship between concentrations and ICU stay. In fact patients showing PSP values higher than 250 ng/L (cut-off for risk stratification) did stay in ICU for a significantly longer time (median 17 days, IQR 12–31; p < 0.001) than those exhibiting lower values (median 10 days, IQR 7–18).

Conclusions

The data obtained seems to demonstrate the role of PSP in providing prognostic information in COVID-19 patients, allowing to identify, during the early phase of the monitoring, the patients suffering from a more severe disease which will be hospitalized for a more long time.