Cut-off value of white blood cell count in the diagnosis of early-onset sepsis in neonates

Abstract:

Objective To study the clinical significance and cut-off value of white blood cell (WBC) count in the diagnosis of early-onset sepsis (EOS) in neonates. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 306 neonates with EOS who were admitted from January 2019 to March 2020. A total of 580 children without infection who were admitted during the same period of time were enrolled as the control group. General status and WBC count were compared between the two groups. The diagnostic value of WBC count was analyzed based on the diagnostic and therapeutic protocol of neonatal sepsis in 2003 (referred to as the 2003 diagnostic and therapeutic protocol) and the expert consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of neonatal sepsis (2019 edition) (referred to as the 2019 expert consensus). Results According to the two different diagnosis and treatment protocols, the statistical analysis showed that WBC count had a relatively positive rate (51.3% and 32.0% respectively) but a relatively high specificity (93.3% and 98.6% respectively). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve of WBC count in the 2003 diagnostic and therapeutic protocol was larger than that in the 2019 expert consensus (P < 0.05). Conclusions The cut-off value of WBC ≥ 25×10⁹/L in the 2003 diagnostic and therapeutic protocol is more reasonable in the diagnosis of EOS.