Premium
Sepsis as a risk factor for neonatal morbidity in extremely preterm infants
Author(s) -
Ohlin Andreas,
Björkman Louise,
Serenius Fredrik,
Schollin Jens,
Källén Karin
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.13104
Subject(s) - medicine , sepsis , retinopathy of prematurity , bronchopulmonary dysplasia , risk factor , odds ratio , neonatal sepsis , pediatrics , population , prospective cohort study , gestational age , pregnancy , environmental health , biology , genetics
Aim This study evaluated sepsis as a risk factor for neonatal morbidities and investigated the association between specific pathogens and neonatal morbidities. Methods This was a nationwide Swedish prospective cohort study, consisting of the 497 extremely premature children, who were born before 27 weeks of gestation between 2004 and 2007 and survived their first year of life. Neonatal sepsis was evaluated as a risk factor for neonatal morbidity using multiple logistic linear regression analyses. Results We found that 326 (66%) of the infants had at least one sepsis episode and coagulase‐negative staphylococci was the most common pathogen. Definite sepsis, with an odds ratio ( OR ) of 1.6, was associated with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia, but not clinical sepsis ( OR 1.1). Definite sepsis was also associated with a prolonged hospital stay ( OR 1.6). Sepsis was not significantly associated with a higher risk of retinopathy of prematurity or intraventricular haemorrhage. Conclusion Extremely preterm infants face a great risk of acquiring neonatal sepsis, with coagulase‐negative staphylococci being the most common pathogen in this population. Definite sepsis seemed to be a risk factor for severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia and prolonged hospital stay, but the associations were weaker than in previous studies.