Abstract
Premature rupture of membranes (PROM) can increase the risk of intra-amniotic infection (IAC) and adverse maternal-neonatal outcomes. This retrospective study evaluated the diagnostic value of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) for intra-amniotic infection and included a retrospective observational comparison of integrated traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-Western therapy with Western medicine alone in affected patients. First, 60 patients with premature rupture of membranes admitted from January to September 2024 were divided into infection and non-infection groups according to intra-amniotic infection status, and serum C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels were compared, and their discriminatory performance, individually and in combination, was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Second, 60 patients with premature rupture of membranes complicated by intra-amniotic infection admitted from September 2024 to May 2025 were retrospectively classified into an integrated therapy group or a Western medicine control group according to the treatment documented in their medical records. Serum C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels were higher in infected patients. ROC analysis yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.889 for CRP and 0.842 for IL-6, while the combined CRP/IL-6 model yielded an AUC of 0.914. Compared with Western medicine alone, integrated therapy was associated with a higher vaginal delivery rate, lower cesarean section rate, shorter time to regular contractions, shorter labor stages, and faster normalization of temperature and white blood cell count. These findings suggest that elevated serum CRP and IL-6 are associated with intra-amniotic infection and may provide useful discriminatory information for identifying IAC, with the combined model showing greater discrimination than either marker alone. Integrated TCM-Western therapy may also be associated with improved clinical recovery in selected patients with PROM complicated by IAC; however, these findings require validation in larger prospective studies.