Table 2. Levels of HBP, CRP, PCT, and TNF-α for the diagnosis of purulent meningitis.

Diagnostic markers	Critical value	Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	AUC	95% AUC	P value
HBP (ng/mL)	54.7	98.3	88.3	0.8636	0.8007 to 0.9264	<0.0001
CRP (mg/mL)	155.2	55.6	70.2	0.6725	0.6030 to 0.7421	<0.0001
PCT (ng/mL)	2.11	68.2	60.3	0.7316	0.6677 to 0.7956	<0.0001
TNF-α (pg/mL)	137.2	58.7	60.8	0.6995	0.6174 to 0.7816	<0.0001

AUC: area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; HBP: heparin-binding protein; CRP: C-reactive protein; PCT: procalcitonin; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor-α.