Immediate Diagnosis of Early Onset Sepsis in Premature Newborns by Measurement of Cord C-Reactive Protein and Interleukin-6

Background: the purpose of this study was to determine therelationship between early onset sepsis and increased levels of creactiveprotein (crp) and interleukin-6 (il-6) in cord plasma.methods: a prospective study was conducted in 141 prematureinfants delivered with gestational ages of 26-35 weeks.il-6 and cpr were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassayin the cord plasma of the neonates. according to clinical, laboratoryfindings and blood culture results , newborn infantswere allocated into four groups (a-d): documented early onsetinfe ction, clinical sepsis, possible infection, and controlgroups respectively.results: mean il-6 levels in group a-d was 264, 212, 160,and 33.3 pg/ml respectively. difference between groups wasstatistically significant (p= .002) . with cut off point of 18'pg/ml, the sensitivity and specificity of il-6 for diagnosis ofearly onset sepsis was 72% and 55% respectively. there wasnot significant difference between mean levels of crp amonggroups (p=0.28).conclusion: having considered the relatively good sensitivityand moderate specificity of cord il-6, using this test can berecommended as a useful detector of early onset sepsis andnon-infected sick neonates.