High Level Serum Procalcitonin Associated Gouty Arthritis Susceptibility: From a Southern Chinese Han Population

Abstract

ObjectivesTo study the serum Procalcitonin (PCT) level in inflammatory arthritis including gouty arthritis (GA), Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) without any evidence of infection were evaluated the possible discriminative role of PCT in gouty arthritis susceptibility in southern Chinese Han Population.Material and MethodsFrom Feb, 2012 to Feb, 2015, 51 patients with GA, 37 patients with RA, 41 patients with AS and 33 healthy control were enrolled in this study with no evidence of infections. The serum level of PCT (normal range < 0.05 ng/ml) was measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA). Disease activity was determined by scores of VAS (4.07 ± 1.15), DAS28 (4.97 ± 1.12), and ASDAS (2.97 ± 0.81) in GA, RA and AS groups respectively. Other laboratory parameters such as, serum creatinine (CRE), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), uric acid (UA) and white blood cells (WBC) were extracted from medical record system.ResultsSerum PCT level was predominantly higher in gouty arthritis than in RA and AS patients, especially in the GA patients with tophi. PCT was significantly positively correlated with VAS, CRP and ESR in gouty arthritis and CRP in AS. PCT also had positive correlation-ship with ESR, DAS28 and ASDAS in RA and AS patients respectively, but significant differences were not observed.ConclusionsThese data suggested that PCT is not solely a biomarker for infection, but also an indicator in inflammatory arthritis, especially in gouty arthritis.

Procalcitonin levels in bloodstream infections caused by different sources and species of bacteria

“…PCT levels can be useful not only for distinguishing between GNB and GPB infections, but also between GNB or GPB bacterial species. [4,9,13,16,19,20] 12 0.21 (0.07-2.03) Soft tissue infection [5,10,14,17,19,21] 12 0.82 (0.18-7.13) Pelvic infection [6,11,15,18,20,21] Thus, PCT levels are a marker for sepsis, which can inform decisions on the ideal antimicrobial treatment for patients.…”

“…An episode was defined as the time period associated with one or more positive BCs for the same organism(s) [12,13]. PCT levels may be altered in some non-infectious diseases, such as autoimmune disease [14][15][16][17][18] and malignant tumors [19][20][21]. Therefore, our exclusion criteria were: (1) a medical history of immune system disease (adult-onset Still's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, or multiple sclerosis) [14][15][16][17][18]; and (2) history of malignant tumor (thyroid carcinoma or lung cancer) [19][20][21].…”

Procalcitonin-guided diagnosis and antibiotic stewardship revisited

“…PCT was found to be a reliable marker at a cut-off of 0.4 ng/ml and is indicated especially if arthrocentesis cannot be performed [76]. The same is true in acute gouty arthritis, because PCT rises together with aseptic-gouty inflammation and can therefore be falsely positive [77, 78]. A PCT value beyond 0.5 ng/ml does not, however, rule out bacterial infection and appropriate treatment may be indicated [79].…”

Microbe-triggered arthropathies: reactive arthritis and beyond

“…Although there is no other study directly looking at PCT levels in AS, the study by Liu et al . found PCT levels in AS and healthy controls were not raised …”