DIAGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE AND DETERMINATION OF C-REACTIVE PROTEIN (CRP) IN ADULT PATIENTS WITH COMMUNITY ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA

OBJECTIVE: to study the diagnostic significance and determination of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) at the time of diagnosis and compared it with CRP of healthy controls.METHODOLOGY: This study was conducted from December 2005 to Dec 2009 on 162 adult patients and 30 (males=15, females=15)healthy controls. All microbiological assays were performed according to standardized procedures; whereas CRP was measured in serum samples by an automated turbidimetric method with normal reference of ≤ 5.0 mg/L.RESULTS: A total of 85 patients (52.46%) had an identifiable etiology with bacterial pathogens as the causative agents, 31 (19.31%) had viral origin, 10 (6.17%) had other bacterial pathogens and 36 patients (22.22%) with negative microbiological findings. Mean serum CRP levels were 101±15.60 mg/L, 84.50±12.60 mg/L,76.50±11.60 mg/L and 90.35±11.50 mg/L, 85.10±10.15 mg/L 79.10±15.20 mg/L for Klebsiella pneumonia, Streptococcus pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae alone and in combination with other pathogens respectively. Mean serum CRP was 60.45±9.10 mg/L in viral etiology only and 4.10 ± 2.25 mg/Lin controls. CRP values were comparable in different etiologic groups of bacterial origin, except Streptococcus pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae groups (P 0.05), whereas highly significant when compared viral etiology, other pathogens (P 0.01) and negative microbiological findings (P 0.001).CONCLUSION: In adult patients with CAP and bacterial pneumonic pathogens as the causative agents, serum CRP levels are greater, ranging between 76.50±11.60 to 101±15.60 mg/L and thus seems to predict severity of illness and assisting in deciding the appropriate site of care,whether hospital or home.