Diagnostic Significance of Combined Calcitoninogen, Platelet, and D-Dimer Assay in Severe Heatstroke: with Clinical Data Analysis of 70 Patients with Severe Heatstroke.

Abstract

The significance of calcitoninogen detection among inpatients was discussed by analyzing the clinical characteristics of severe heatstroke (HS). HS patients who were admitted to the Second Hospital of Nantong University, Jiangsu Province, China, between July 1, 2015, and October 30, 2020, were reviewed. Patients' clinical characteristics and laboratory data were recorded, and they were divided into three groups, that is, a control group (heat cramps and heat exhaustion), an exertional HS (EHS) group, and a classical HS (CHS) group to compare the differences among them. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate patients' clinical utility. (1) The body temperatures in the EHS and CHS groups were significantly higher than in the control group (all p < 0.05). (2) The D-dimer (DD), procalcitonin (PCT), and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score of the EHS group were significantly higher compared with the control and CHS groups (all p < 0.05); the platelets (PLT), C-reactive protein (CRP), blood sodium (Na), and intravenous glucose (GLU) of the EHS group were lower than in the control and CHS groups (all p < 0.05). (3) The ROC curve analysis showed the performance results for DD (area under the curve [AUC] 0.670, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.547-0.777), PCT (AUC 0.705, 95% CI 0.584-0.808), and PLT (AUC 0.791, 95% CI 0.677-0.879). The sensitivity was 40.48%, 100%, and 73.81%, and the specificity was 96.43%, 32.14%, and 78.57%, respectively. Using three combined analyses, an elevated AUC of 0.838, 95% CI 0.731-0.916, with a sensitivity of 71.43% and a specificity of 85.71%, respectively, was revealed. Patients in the EHS group had higher DD, PCT, and APACHE II values, whereas PLT, CRP, Na, and GLU were reduced. The apparent decrease in the PLT, as well as the increase in PCT and DD values, could be considered as early sensitivity indicators of severe HS. A combined test of these three indicators presented significant diagnostic value for detecting severe cases of HS.