Correlation Analysis of Dynamic Changes of Serum Calprotectin, Anti-Sa, sCD14-ST and Bone - Joint Injury and Systemic Inflammatory Response in Children with Acute Osteoarticular Infections

Objective: To explore the correlation of dynamic changes of serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST levels with bone - joint injury and systemic inflammatory response in children with acute osteoarticular infections. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 120 children who underwent bone - joint surgery in our hospital from June 2022 to June 2024. According to whether acute osteoarticular infections occurred post - operation, they were divided into infection group (n=49) and non - infection group (n=71).Differences in dynamic changes of serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST levels between the two groups were compared.Differences in bone - joint injury and systemic inflammatory response among children with different levels of calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST were compared.The correlation of serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST indicators with bone - joint injury and serum inflammatory indicators, risk factors for acute osteoarticular infections in children, and the clinical value of serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST in diagnosing acute osteoarticular infections in children were analyzed. Results: Preoperative serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST levels showed no significant difference between the two groups ( P >0.05).Postoperative day 3 and day 7, serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST levels were higher in the infection group than in the non - infection group, with statistical significance ( P <0.05).Lysholms knee function score and KOOS score were lower in the high calprotectin group than in the low calprotectin group, lower in the high anti - Sa group than in the low anti - Sa group, and lower in the high sCD14 - ST group than in the low sCD14 - ST group, with significant differences ( P <0.05).Serum IL - 1β, IL - 6, IL - 27, TNF - α levels were higher in the high calprotectin group than in the low calprotectin group, higher in the high anti - Sa group than in the low anti - Sa group, and higher in the high sCD14 - ST group than in the low sCD14 - ST group, with statistical significance ( P <0.05).Pearson correlation analysis showed that serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST indicators were negatively correlated with Lysholms knee function score and KOOS score ( P <0.05), and positively correlated with serum IL - 1β, IL - 6, IL - 27, TNF - α levels ( P <0.05~ P <0.01).Logistic regression analysis indicated that elevated serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST levels were risk factors for acute osteoarticular infections in children ( P <0.05).The AUC for diagnosing acute osteoarticular infections in children using serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST levels were 0.764, 0.740, 0.766, respectively, and the combined diagnostic AUC was 0.805, with significant data differences ( Z =4.646, P <0.05). Conclusion: Dynamic monitoring of serum calprotectin, anti - Sa, sCD14 - ST levels can assist clinical diagnosis of acute osteoarticular infections in children and shows certain correlation with bone - joint injury and systemic inflammatory response, serving as auxiliary indicators for infection assessment in children. Trial registration: Not applicable.