Fever is a frequent reason for consultation in pediatric emergency departments and raises the question of biological and radiological examinations. Rapidly obtaining the result of C-reactive protein (CRP) level is essential in front of the steady increase of the number of visits. We carried out a prospective study within the pediatric emergency department of the University Hospital of Clermont-Ferrand from January to April 2017, in order to evaluate the interest of the capillary CRP in point of care (POCT). In two periods, 68 patients (28 controls without and 40 cases with capillary CRP assayed on a Afinion® AS100) with naked fever greater than 48 hours were included. After a study of the analytical performances of Afinion® and a verification of the homogeneity and the comparability of the two groups on clinical criteria (age, sex, duration of the fever, antibiotics treatment) and biological (values of CRP), the interest of the CRP in POCT was evaluated. In the POCT group, a significant drop in the median of the emergency room consultation time (60 (IQR 33-125) versus 180 (IQR 158-208) minutes), the number of biological acts by patient (1 (IQR 1-3) versus 7 (IQR 3-8)), the global cost of biological and radiological examinations per patient (5.4 (IQR 5.4-32.6) versus 153.8 (IQR 46.9-180.4) euros), and the cost of reagents spent by the laboratory per patient (5.2 (IQR 5.2-6.4) versus 33.2 (IQR 2.3-34.2) euros). Thus, in the context of a clinical-biological partnership, the use of CRP in POCT present a practical and an economic interest.
Keywords: C-reactive protein; POCT; pediatric emergencies.