NGHIÊN CỨU MỐI LIÊN QUAN GIỮA NỒNG ĐỘ PROCALCITONIN HUYẾT THANH VÀ VIÊM PHỔI NẶNG Ở TRẺ TỪ 2 THÁNG ĐẾN 5 TUỔI TẠI BỆNH VIỆN NHI ĐỒNG CẦN THƠ

Abstract

  Background: Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under five worldwide. Procalcitonin is a widely studied biomarker in adults and has been associated with pneumonia severity; however, evidence in children remains limited and inconsistent. Objectives: 1. To describe the clinical and laboratory characteristics of pneumonia in children aged 2 months to 5 years hospitalized at Can Tho Children’s Hospital; 2. To investigate the association between serum procalcitonin and severe pneumonia in this population. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 129 children aged 2 months to 5 years diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to Can Tho Children’s Hospital between May 2024 and February 2026. Results: The median age was 11 months (range: 2 months to 5 years); 59.7% were male. Common symptoms included cough (95.3%), fever (89.1%), tachypnea (80.6%), and chest indrawing (72.9%). Severe pneumonia accounted for 37.2% of cases. The median serum procalcitonin level (interquartile range) was 0.15 (0.08-0.44) ng/mL. Compared with the non-severe pneumonia group, children with severe pneumonia had higher serum procalcitonin levels (0.18 versus 0.15 ng/mL; p=0.043). The discriminative performance of procalcitonin for severe pneumonia was limited, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.607 (95% confidence interval, 0.502-0.712). The optimal cut-off value was 1.37 ng/mL, yielding a specificity of 93.8%. Conclusions: Serum procalcitonin is associated with severe pneumonia in hospitalized children and may support risk stratification; however, it should not be used as a stand-alone marker and should be interpreted alongside clinical assessment and other laboratory findings.