Abstract
Procalcitonin (PCT) has emerged as a new prognostic inflammatory marker in a variety of diseases. This study aimed to evaluate whether PCT is associated with increased risk of unfavorable outcome in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients. During January 2015-December 2016, we conducted a prospective cohort investigation involved 251 primary ICH patients who were admitted within 24 h after the onset of symptoms. We assessed serum PCT levels for all patients at admission. The functional outcome after 3 months was evaluated by modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and dichotomized as favorable (mRS 0-2) and unfavorable (mRS 3-6). The independent risk factors for unfavorable outcome and mortality after 3 months were examined by binary logistic regression. Of 251 ICH patients, the median PCT concentration was 0.053 µg/L (interquartile range 0.035-0.078 µg/L). Unfavorable outcome and mortality at 3 months were observed in 161 (64.1%) and 51 (20.3%) patients, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, patients with PCT levels in the top quartile (>0.078 ug/L), compared with the lowest quartile (<0.035 μg/L) were more likely to have a higher risk of poor functional outcome [odds ratio (OR) 7.341; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.770-21.114; P = 0.001] and mortality (OR 7.483; 95% CI 1.871-24.458, P = 0.006). Furthermore, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of PCT showed 0.701 (95% CI 0.635-0.767) for worse functional prognosis, and 0.652 (95% CI 0.569-0.735) for mortality. This study demonstrated that elevated PCT levels at admission were independently associated with unfavorable clinical outcome in ICH patients.