The usefulness of pleural fluid presepsin, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin in distinguishing different causes of pleural effusions

Table 5 Diagnostic performance of pleural fluid PCT based on the ROC analysis (n = 132)

	Optimal cut-off point (ng/mL)	Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	+LR	−LR	PPV (%)	NPV (%)	AUC	Accuracy (%)
Emp vs. other	≤2.57	100.0	5.8	1.06	0.00	8.8	100.0	0.244	13.6
Emp and PE vs. other	≥0.19	70.4	83.8	4.35	0.35	52.8	91.7	0.791	81.1
Emp, PE and TB vs. other	≥0.11	66.7	75.0	2.67	0.44	50.0	85.7	0.718	72.7
PE vs. other (excluding Emp)	≥0.13	75.0	79.0	3.58	0.32	35.3	95.4	0.783	78.5
Infectious vs. non-infectious	≥0.11	63.2	74.5	2.47	0.49	50.0	83.3	0.696	71.2

Emp empyema, PE parapneumonic effusion, TB tuberculosis, +LR positive likelihood ratio, −LR negative likelihood ratio, PPV positive predictive value, NPV negative predictive value, AUC area under the curve

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