Interest of the Presepsin Assay as a Biomarker of Bacterial Infection, in the Management of Newborns and Infants Under 3 Months of Age Admitted for Fever in Pediatric Emergency Service

An exploratory proof of concept that evaluates an innovative and minimally invasive diagnostic technique, with brief, monocentric longitudinal follow-up, this study aims to validate presepsin as a biomarker for identifying bacterial fever among febrile syndromes of infants under three months of age. Presepsin is thought to be specific for sepsis, and would rise earlier in the blood during sepsis than biomarkers currently used. Such validation could improve the precocity of the therapeutic management by a better targeted antibiotic therapy, and the limitation of invasive complementary examinations (lumbar puncture), in infants for whom the fear of a bacterial infection leads to examinations and systematic treatments.

To do this, we will study the discriminative power (bacterial or viral, verified, a posteriori, by the results of microbiological examinations such as blood cultures, cytobacteriology of urine, lumbar puncture, virological or bacteriological samples of stool and nasopharynx) and prognosis (comparison of initial signs of clinical severity and presepsin levels, length of hospitalization and hospitalization unit) of presepsin by comparing its blood levels to the usual biological markers (CRP, PCT, leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes) in children less than 3 months old with fever. It will also be compared, a posteriori, the rate of presepsin between the group of children treated with antibiotics and the group of untreated children to verify that the rate of presepsin is predictive of the initiation of antibiotic treatment.

If in this study the superiority of presepsin is confirmed, it will also be evaluated, by a medico-economic study, the effect of a decision of care based on the interpretation of the blood presepsin level on downstream health costs and on the speed of care of children under 3 months with fever presenting to the emergency department by the commissioning of a delocalized analyzer. This device is, for the moment, available only in the laboratory.

The study plans to include 160 children under 3 months admitted to pediatric emergencies or pediatric resuscitation at Estaing Hospital in Clermont-Ferrand.

Participation in the study will not require additional venipuncture given the very small amount of blood sufficient for the presepsin assay. The diagnosis of the child will not be made according to the presepsin test, but according to the standard criteria, and its management will not be modified by his participation in the study. Thus, the study presents neither benefit nor risk for the participants.