Results
A total of 137 patients (78 cases and 59 controls) were included in the
study; 78.5% males, median age 4.1 (1.7-7.5) years. Four cases were
diagnosed with SBI, 41 viral infection (VI) and 33 no proven infection
(NPI). IL-6 was significantly higher in patients with SBI than in
patients with VI or NPI (163 vs 0.7 vs 0.7 pg/ml, p < 0.001),
and undetectable in all controls. The rest of the cytokines analyzed did
not show any significant difference. The optimal cut-off value of IL-6
for the diagnosis of SBI was 125 pg/mL, with high PPV and NPV (PPV of
100% for a prevalence of 5, 10 and 15% and NPV of 98.7%, 97.3% and
95.8% for those prevalences, respectively).