Role of immature Platelet fraction as an early indicator of sepsis in intensive care unit: A Prospective Study.

Aim: To assess the hypothesized that platelet activation markers triggered by common infections may help predicting occurrence of sepsis in specific ICU patient populations. Material and Methods: The present prospective study was conducted in patients >18 years of age, admitted at P.D. Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Center in the Intensive care unit (ICU) with acute febrile illness. Any patient fulfilling the inclusion criteria, admitted as an in-patient to this hospital during a period of 12 consecutive months was included in the study. Group I Patients Admitted in ICU with fever and proven to have sepsis (confirmed by positive blood culture) Group II Patients admitted in ICU with fever and having no proven sepsis (blood culture is negative), The q-SOFA score was recorded with IPF was compared with PCT and blood culture. q-SOFA score was compared in both the groups. Results:q - SOFA score comparison- group I,q - SOFA = 2 or > 2( 83.60 ./.) as compared to group II q - sofa =1 (91.9./.) with statistically significant. P value = 0.001 All the parameters of SIRS criteria viz. temperature (°C), HR (beats/min), breath rate (/min), WBC (x10³/ul) and immature forms (%) were comparable among the study groups as p>0.05. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value in diagnosis of sepsis (considering culture as gold standard) was 77 %,76%,75%,70.5%respectively. Conclusion: Using IPF initially to recognize patients of sepsis, can lead to reduction in morbidity and mortality of these patients. Measurement of the IPF is simple, and cost-effective. It can be done as part of a CBC on most automated hematology analyzers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]