The clinical signs in congenital pneumonia mimic other conditions like transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) and respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Differential diagnosis is difficult since laboratory findings have limited value. Procalcitonin (PCT) is an important and widely studied marker of infection. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of PCT in newborn patients hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with the diagnosis of congenital pneumonia. The infants with respiratory distress who were born at Hacettepe University between 2005-2015 and hospitalized in the NICU were included in the study. A total of 200 newborn infants; 54 (27%) infants with congenital pneumonia (Group-1), 42 (21%) infants with TTN (Group-2), 40 (20%) infants with RDS (Group-3) and 64 (32%) healthy infants (group-4), were included in the study. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups for serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, sampling time for PCT and CRP and the characteristics of the mother (p > 0.05). Mean serum PCT level was higher in the congenital pneumonia group than in the other groups (p < 0.001). Result of this study shows that procalcitonin is an important early marker in the diagnosis of congenital pneumonia.

Keywords: congenital pneumonia, newborn, procalcitonin