Serum C-reactive protein and interleukin6 levels in neonatal sepsis.

In this article, we studied complete blood count, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin (IL-6) levels in 30 newborn infants with sepsis at admission, in the 24th hour of admission and at the end of the treatment. Our purpose was to determine the relationship among these parameters in the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. In our study, there was not a significant difference in white blood cell (WBC) and thrombocyte count among the values of the first, 24th hour and end of therapy in the study group (P > 0.05). However, there was not a significant difference in B/N ratio among the values at admission, 24th hour and end of therapy in the study group (P > 0.05). Both serum CRP and IL-6 levels were found to be significantly higher than those of control subjects at the beginning (P < 0.05). Similarly, the values obtained on the 24th hour were also elevated. However, at the end of therapy both decreased to normal level (P < 0.05). Based on these data, we think that serum CRP levels only which is a simple method may be used in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. However, WBC and serum IL-6 levels may be useful to establish mortality, because there was a statistically significant difference for these parameters between the survivors and deaths (P < 0.05).