Abstract
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Fast Bedside Measurement of Blood Count and C-reactive Protein in Newborns Compared with Conventional Methods
by F. Papa, M. Rongioletti, Mb. Majolini, v. Collegiani, C. Vaccarella, Ml. Notarmuzi, M. Cortesi, P. Pasqualetti, M. Cicchese, R. Agostino, Gm. Liumbruno
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Background: Abnormal complete blood count (CBC) and high plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with neonatal infections and could be helpful in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis and to monitor the antibiotic treatment.
Objectives: The aim of this work is to evaluate and compare the performance of a bedside analyzer for blood count and C-reactive protein (CRP) with a conventional analyzer in a neonatal population.
Methods: 150 capillary or venous blood samples of term and preterm newborns were processed on an ABX-MicrosCRP200 analyzer and on a SysmexXE2100 (conventional hematology analyzer) for CBC, leukocyte differential, reticulocytes, and nucleated red blood cells (NRBC); high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) was performed on a ModularPE. The differences between complete blood count and CRP were regressed against their means and assessed by means of intra-class-correlation.
Results: The intra-class-correlation for white blood cell (WBC) was 0.98, for hemoglobin 0.97, for hematocrit 0.96, for mean corpuscular volume 0.95, and for platelet 0.98. ABX-MicrosCRP200 overestimated the WBC (+1.27 x 103/µL; p < 0.001), hematocrit (+1.80%; p < 0.001), and platelet (+13.55 x 103/µL; p < 0.001). The intra-class-correlation for CRP was high (0.97), without systematic difference between the two values (p = 0.64).
Conclusions: The agreement between the two methods was high for both tests. However, the SD of the difference for WBC and platelet could be clinically important in leukopenic or thrombocytopenic newborns.
DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2011.110628
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