Establishment of reference intervals for maternal blood and umbilical cord blood procalcitonin in healthy Chinese women in late pregnancy.

AIM: To establish reference intervals (RIs) for maternal blood and umbilical cord blood procalcitonin (PCT) in healthy Chinese women in late pregnancy. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-seven healthy Chinese women in late pregnancy, including 70 vaginal deliveries and 57 cesarean section deliveries, were retrospectively analyzed. These pregnant women gave birth to 58 male infants and 69 female infants. Another 127 age-matched healthy women who were not pregnant were enrolled as the control group. PCT levels in maternal blood, umbilical cord blood and control blood were determined using electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. The RIs of PCT were defined using an intermediate 95% interval. RESULTS: The RIs for maternal blood and umbilical cord blood PCT were 0.020-0.075 ng/mL and 0.020-0.159 ng/mL, respectively. The cord blood PCT level was not significantly different between different delivery methods (P > 0.05). In contrast, the umbilical cord blood PCT in female newborns was higher than that in male newborns (0.088 ± 0.046 ng/mL vs 0.072 ± 0.030 ng/mL, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Maternal blood and umbilical cord blood PCT of Chinese women in late pregnancy have different RIs, and umbilical cord blood PCT level is affected by the gender of newborns.