Heparin-binding protein combined with human serum albumin in early assessment of community-acquired pneumonia: A retrospective study

Objective: To investigate the application of heparin-binding protein along with albumin (HBP+ALB) in evaluating the severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and compares it with single HBP, white blood cells (WBCs), C-reactive protein (CRP), and procalcitonin (PCT). Methods: A total of 226 patients with CAP admitted to the Emergency Department of Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangdong, China, between March 1, 2021, and March 1, 2022, were enrolled. The patients were grouped into two groups: mild CAP (n=175) and severe CAP (sCAP)(n=51). Patients' characteristics and laboratory data were obtained. ROC curve and the value of the area under the curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the predictive values of HBP, ALB, WBC, CRP, and PCT. Results: WBC count, CRP, PCT, HBP, creatinine, and D-dimer were higher in the sCAP group, while ALB was lower in the sCAP group (P<0.05) than those in the mild CAP group. The AUCs of WBC, CRP, PCT, HBP, and HBP+ALB were 0.633 (95% CI: 0.545-0.722, P<0.05), 0.635 (95% CI: 0.542-0.729, P<0.05), 0.705 (95% CI: 0.619-0.791, P<0.05), 0.809 (95% CI: 0.736-0.883, P<0.05), and 0.889 (95% CI: 0.842-0.936, P<0.05), respectively. Conclusions: HBP+ALB has a higher predictive value than single HBP, PCT, CRP and WBC used alone for the early assessment of CAP.