A study of serum suppression of tumorigenicity 2 level in critically ill children

Background sST2 is a new biomarker that was predominantly studied in adults with heart failure but was not adequately investigated in other diseases or in children. Aim to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic values of sST2 in critically ill children. Patients and methods A prospective observational study of 70 children admitted into Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and 20 healthy controls. sST2 was measured within 24 hours of admission. Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) and Pediatric Index of Mortality 2(PIM2) were calculated. Primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Results sST2 was significantly higher among critically ill children compared with controls (P 0.001). sST2 was significantly elevated among septic children compared with controls (P 0.001) and the area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for discriminating septic children from controls was excellent (AUC=0.958, P 0.001). However, no significant difference in sST2 level was noted between septic and non-septic children or between survivors and non-survivors. sST2 was not correlated with CRP, PRISM, PIM2, or other indicators of disease severity. Conclusion sST2 is an acute phase protein with potential value in sepsis diagnosis. However, sST2 is not useful for predicting disease severity and prognosis of critically ill children.