Evaluation of Serum Interleukins-6, 8 and 10 Levels as Diagnostic Markers of Neonatal Infection and Possibility of Mortality

Objective(s): Bacterial infection contributes substantially to neonatal morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis is difficult because clinical signs are non-specific. We have evaluated serum IL-6, 8 and 10 as potential early diagnostic markers of neonatal infection and their relationship to mortality rate and poor prognosis. Materials and Methods: A total of 84 infants, aged ≥ 72 hr were enrolled in this prospective case-control trial. The case group (n=41) included babies with clinical and laboratory findings compatible with sepsis and/or positive blood or cerebrospinal fluid cultures. The control group (n=43) included healthy infants. IL-6, 8 and 10 were measured for all infants. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used for the determination of thresholds. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed between control and case groups for serum median level of IL-6, 8 and 10 (P<0.001). IL-6 cut-off values of 10.85 Pg/ml for discriminating between cases and controls and 78.2 Pg/ml for predicting mortality are suggested. IL-8 at a cut-off value of 60.05 Pg/ml was valuable for differentiation of definite versus indefinite infection. Conclusion: Evaluating the IL-6, 8 and 10 simultaneously, could improve the sensitivity and specificity of early diagnosis of the neonatal sepsis. Regarding our results, interleukin 6 had the greatest value for predicting infection and possible mortality, whereas IL-8 was valuable for diagnosing definitive infection.