Abstract
Objective We aimed to investigate the relationship between serum endocan, procalcitonin (PCT),
C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios
(NLR), and the severity of the disease in childhood community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)
cases.
Methods This cross-sectional designed study included 30 pneumonia cases and 30 severe pneumonia
cases aged between 3 months and 18 years who were hospitalized and treated in our
hospital with the diagnosis of CAP. We also included 30 healthy controls in the same
age range. Pearson's correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve
analyzes were performed.
Results PCT, endocan, NLR, and CRP levels were found to be significantly higher in patients
with severe pneumonia. Sensitivity and specificity values in detecting pneumonia were
72.5 and 93% for PCT, 78.4 and 83.3% for CRP, 78.4 and 76.7% for endocan, and 64.7
and 63.3% for NLR. However, the area under the curve in ROC analysis were 0.821, 0.840,
0.842, and 0.670 for PCT, CRP, endocan, and NLR respectively.
Conclusion Endocan may be a marker of the diagnosis of pneumonia and not clinical severity,
but studies are needed in large patient populations.
Keywords
endocan - procalcitonin - pneumonia - children
