| Abstract [eng] |
Relevance of the problem and aim of the work. Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction that leads to the hospitalization of children in intensive care units. It often presents with non-specific symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose. Currently, sepsis diagnosis is based on the recognition of clinical symptoms, blood culture, and biomarkers‘ tests. Blood culture testing is time-consuming, and the concentration of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin can increase due to other reasons. Presepsin is a relatively recently identified biomarker whose significance in sepsis diagnosis is still being studied. The aim of this work is to conduct a systematic literature review on the significance of the biomarker presepsin in sepsis diagnosis. Methods and materials. While conducting this systematic literature review, scientific publications were searched in the MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Scopus (Elsevier) databases. The systematic review included articles published in English between 2015 and 2025, describing cohort and clinical studies conducted in different countries around the world, in which the study population consisted of children diagnosed with sepsis. The data obtained were analyzed by describing the results. Results. After conducting a search of scientific articles based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 14 studies were included in this systematic literature review: 6 cohort studies, 3 case-control studies, 3 cross-sectional studies, and 1 pilot study. A total of 1 837 children participated in the studies. During the studies, presepsin was analyzed and compared with other biomarkers currently used in the diagnosis of pediatric sepsis (C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6). Conclusions. Presepsin is an appropriate biomarker for the diagnosis of sepsis in children. It can be evaluated separately or together with the results of other biomarkers. An increase in presepsin concentration in the case of sepsis is observed significantly earlier than C-reactive protein or procalcitonin. In addition, the increase in presepsin is not influenced by factors that affect the elevation of other biomarkers. Presepsin test is more specific and sensitive in the newborn population. Presepsin is also suitable for assessing the severity of the condition in older children. |
