Clinical utility of the inflammatory burden index in differentiating neonatal pneumonia from pneumonia complicated by sepsis.
- 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Children's Infection and Immunity, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, P. R. China.
- 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Children's Infection and Immunity, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, P. R. China. [email protected].
- 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Children's Infection and Immunity, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, P. R. China. [email protected].
Abstract
Objective
Differentiating sepsis from uncomplicated pneumonia in neonates remains clinically challenging. The inflammatory burden index (IBI) is a novel composite biomarker integrating inflammatory status and immune function. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of the IBI in differentiating neonatal pneumonia with and without concomitant sepsis.Methods
We conducted a retrospective analysis of 1,383 hospitalized neonates, stratified into a pneumonia group (n = 935) and a pneumonia-complicated-by-sepsis group (n = 448). Clinical and laboratory data, including C-reactive protein, neutrophil count, and lymphocyte count, were collected upon admission to calculate the IBI. To assess whether the IBI was independently associated with sepsis, we performed multivariable logistic regression analysis after adjusting for relevant clinical covariates. Finally, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the diagnostic performance of the index.Results
IBI levels were significantly higher in neonates with pneumonia complicated by sepsis compared to those in the pneumonia-only group (P < 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders in the multivariable model, a higher IBI remained independently associated with an increased prevalence of sepsis. ROC analysis showed that IBI had good diagnostic performance (area under the curve = 0.76, 95% confidence interval: 0.73-0.79, P < 0.001).Conclusion
IBI may serve as a non-invasive adjunctive inflammatory marker during the initial clinical assessment of neonates with suspected sepsis.
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BibTeX
@article{li2026clinical,
title = {{Clinical utility of the inflammatory burden index in differentiating neonatal pneumonia from pneumonia complicated by sepsis.}},
author = {Ci Li and Kaijie Gao and Liu Yang and Panpan Fang and Zhiwei Zhu and Shicai Jiang and Tiewei Li and Junmei Yang},
journal = {BMC infectious diseases},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1186/s12879-026-14624-5},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42919222},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Clinical utility of the inflammatory burden index in differentiating neonatal pneumonia from pneumonia complicated by sepsis.
AU - Ci Li
AU - Kaijie Gao
AU - Liu Yang
AU - Panpan Fang
AU - Zhiwei Zhu
AU - Shicai Jiang
AU - Tiewei Li
AU - Junmei Yang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - BMC infectious diseases
DO - 10.1186/s12879-026-14624-5
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42919222
AB - Objective Differentiating sepsis from uncomplicated pneumonia in neonates remains clinically challenging. The inflammatory burden index (IBI) is a novel composite biomarker integrating inflammatory status and immune function. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of the IBI in differentiating neonatal pneumonia with and without concomitant sepsis.Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of 1,383 hospitalized neonates, stratified into a pneumonia group (n = 935) and a pneumonia-complicated-by-sepsis group (n = 448). Clinical and laboratory data, including C-reactive protein, neutrophil count, and lymphocyte count, were collected upon admission to calculate the IBI. To assess whether the IBI was independently associated with sepsis, we performed multivariable logistic regression analysis after adjusting for relevant clinical covariates. Finally, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the diagnostic performance of the index.Results IBI levels were significantly higher in neonates with pneumonia complicated by sepsis compared to those in the pneumonia-only group (P < 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders in the multivariable model, a higher IBI remained independently associated with an increased prevalence of sepsis. ROC analysis showed that IBI had good diagnostic performance (area under the curve = 0.76, 95% confidence interval: 0.73-0.79, P < 0.001).Conclusion IBI may serve as a non-invasive adjunctive inflammatory marker during the initial clinical assessment of neonates with suspected sepsis.
SN - 1471-2334
ER -