Analysis of the diagnostic and prognostic value of growth differentiation factor 15 and procalcitonin in sepsis / 中华检验医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and the procalcitonin (PCT) in sepsis.Methods:A total number of 137 patients with sepsis (considered as the sepsis group) and 59 patients with inflammatory infection but not diagnosed as sepsis (the non-sepsis group) received treatment in intensive care unit of Renming Hospital of Wuhan University were collected from July 2020 to January 2021, and 62 cases of healthy physical examination (control group) were simultaneously chosen as control. Sepsis patients were divided into two groups (death group [ n=48] and survival group [ n=89]) according to their 28-day′s survival. The serum levels of GDF15, PCT, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were examined, and the levels of each index, was dynamically monitored on the 1st, 3rd and 7th day after admission. The differences of the two indicators between different groups were compared by non-parametric test. The correlation between GDF15 and PCT was analyzed by Spearman correlation test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of the two indicators for sepsis. Results:The levels of GDF15 in the sepsis group, non-sepsis group and control group were 3.22 (1.39, 6.31) μg/L, 0.84 (0.21, 1.66) μg/L and 0.11 (0.09, 0.13) μg/L, respectively. The levels of PCT were 13.10 (1.99, 50.25) μg/L, 0.24 (0.13, 0.68) μg/L and 0.05 (0.03, 0.10) μg/L, respectively. The levels of CRP were 115.80 (26.40, 184.07) mg/L, 24.20 (11.30, 53.20) mg/L and 0.50 (0.50, 2.76) mg/L, respectively. The levels of IL-6 were 68.26 (21.59, 255.46) ng/L, 33.20 (10.81, 89.27) ng/L and 8.82 (7.33, 11.23) ng/L, respectively. The levels of IL-10 were 11.30 (5.88, 25.50) ng/L, 9.34 (5.65, 16.90) ng/L and 4.94 (4.31, 5.31) ng/L, respectively. The GDF15, PCT, CRP and IL-6 of the sepsis group were significantly higher than those of the non-sepsis group (The U values were 67.681, 86.034, 44.164 and 38.934, respectively, with P values less than 0.05) and the control group (The U values were 136.475, 138.667, 120.701 and 100.886, respectively, with P values less than 0.001). There was no significant difference in IL-10 between sepsis group and nonsepsis group, but it was higher than that of control group ( U=80.221, P<0.001). There was a positive correlation between GDF15 and PCT in patients with sepsis, and the spearman correlation coefficient was 0.234 ( P=0.006). The GDF15 of the death group and the survival group were 5.49 (3.60, 8.25) μg/L and 2.03 (1.06, 3.69) μg/L, and the PCT levels were 26.45 (11.23, 94.25) μg/L and 9.08 (1.33, 22.75) μg/L, respectively. GDF15 and PCT in the death group were significantly higher than those in the survival group ( U values were 3 305.500 and 3 060.000, respectively, and P values were both less than 0.001). The GDF15 and PCT levels in the death group were higher than those in the survival group on the 1st, 3rd and 7th day of dynamic monitoring ( P<0.05), however, the level of CRP and IL-10 were not significantly different ( P>0.05). The level of IL-6 in the death group was not significantly different from that of the death group on 1st day, but was higher than that of the survival group on the 3rd and 7th day ( P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of GDF15, PCT, CRP, IL-6 and IL-10 alone and in the combined diagnosis of sepsis were 0.899, 0.938, 0.874, 0.789, 0.698 and 0.962, respectively. The combined detection of AUC was better than a single index; the GDF15, PCT, CRP, IL-6 and IL-10 alone and combined detection of sepsis prognosis AUC were 0.774, 0.716, 0.522, 0.623, 0.520 and 0.839, respectively, the combined detection of AUC is also better than single index. Conclusions:GDF15 and PCT have good clinical reference value in the differential diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis. The combination of indicators has a higher clinical value. GDF15 may become a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis.