The significance of plasma copeptin levels in children with acquired pneumonia

Jiang Feng-zhi; Deng Hao-hui; Mai Yuan-chang

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-1949.2017.03.014

Abstract：Objective To explore the clinical significance of the changes of plasma copeptin levels in children with community acquired pneumonia (CAP).Methods Forty-six cases of hospitalized children with CAP were selected,including 30 cases with common pneumonia and 16 severe ones,and 30 healthy children as normal control group.At the same time,plasma levels of copeptin,white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophil (N) count,serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP),procalcitonin (PCT) and sodium in children with CAP at diagnosis and control group were detected.Results Plasma copeptin in children with CAP (including common and severe cases) [(0.65±0.25)ng/mL,(1.02±0.45)ng/L]were significantly higher than that in the control group [(0.37±0.13)ng/L] (P＜ 0.01) and there was also statistical significance between common and severe cases (P ＜ 0.01);and no statistically significant difference for plasma CRP and serum sodium levels among 3 groups (P＞ 0.05),also for WBC,N and PCT between common and severe cases (P ＞ 0.05).And there was no significant correlation between serum copeptin levels and others.By analysis of receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve),plasma copeptin levels in children showed some diagnostic performance of severe cases [with area under the curve =0.753,95％ confidence interval (CI)0.605 ～ 0.902,P =0.005].When copeptin ＞ 0.92 ng/mL was taken as the cut-off value the sensitivity was 50％ and specificity 86.67％.Conclusion The determination of plasma copeptin levels in children with CAP might be helpful to judge the patient's condition and severity of CAP,that still needs further research.