Objective      To investigate whether acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score and plasma procalcitonin are valuable predictors on the prognosis in patient

s with pulmonary infection.        Methods      Patients (n=78) with pulmonary infection in ICU from March 2012 to May 2013 were recruited from Xinqiao Hospital. The data including age

gender

APACHE Ⅱ score

blood gas analysis

erythrocyte sedimentation

C-reactive protein

lactic acid

procalcitonin

mortality within 28 d

occurrence of acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS)

and so on were collected and analyzed using the receiver operating characteristic curve.       Results      Among the 78 patients with pulmonary infection

19 were death cases and 33 were ARDS cases. The statistical analysis showed that as compared to the survival group

APACHE Ⅱ score and procalcitonin level were significantly higher while the oxygenation index was lower in the death group [23.3±7.5 

vs

15.5±6.2

P

0.001; 18.6(1.5-25.0) 

vs

1.0(0.3-25.0)ng/mL

P

=0.044; 189.7±89.4 

vs

238.0±91.7

P

=0.048

respectively

]

. Similarly

though both of APACHE Ⅱ score and procalcitonin level were also significantly higher and the oxygenation index was significantly lower in those who developed ARDS than in those who did not [19.9±8.3 

vs

15.6±6.0

P

=0.013; 8.3(1.2-25.0) 

vs

0.7(0.2-21.8)ng/mL

P

=0.016; 190.9±82.6 vs 252.1±92.4

P

=0.003

respectively

]

. Additionally

the results revealed that APACHE Ⅱ score or procalcitonin level could solely predicate the occurrence of ARDS (0.651 

vs

0.657

P

=0.929) and mortality within 28 d (0.797 

vs

0.652

P

=0.057). However

no improvement was found when the two predictors were combined together.       Conclusions      Both APACHE Ⅱ score and procalcitonin level are valuable in predicting the prognosis of patients with pulmonary infection

and help identify patients with high risks of death or ARDS.