Bacteriological profile of sepsis and its correlation with procalcitonin in patients with diabetes mellitus

Bloodstream infections can lead to life-threatening sepsis and require rapid antimicrobial treatment. It is an accepted opinion that diabetes worsens prognosis of infection, particularly sepsis, although there is not much data published on this subject. The aim was to study the bacteriological profile of sepsis in patients of diabetes mellitus (DM) and the correlation of procalcitonin as biomarker of sepsis and blood culture positivity. Study was conducted at University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) and Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital from December 2013 to November 2014. Thirty known diabetic patients with signs and symptoms of sepsis were enrolled for the study irrespective of age, sex, and type of diabetes. Blood samples were taken for blood culture, estimation of procalcitonin and blood glucose levels, fasting and postprandial and glycosylated hemoglobin, and other relevant biochemical tests. Out of the 30 samples, 9 (30%) patients yielded growth; among them, 66.6% were found to be Staphylococcus aureus and 33.3% were Klebsiella pneumoniae. Median procalcitonin (PCT) levels in positive blood culture subjects were significantly higher than those with negative blood culture. We observed blood culture positivity in 30% of the patients of DM with sepsis, predominance of Gram-positive bacteria, and significantly higher PCT levels in blood culture-positive patients.