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Presumed and definite bacteremia in extremely low gestational age newborns
Author(s) -
Patel Sonal,
Dammann Olaf,
Martin Camilia R,
Allred Elizabeth N,
Leviton Alan
Publication year - 2011
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/j.1651-2227.2010.01963.x
Subject(s) - bacteremia , medicine , gestational age , pregnancy , gestation , birth weight , risk factor , antibiotics , pediatrics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , genetics
Aim: To explore risk patterns for presumed and definite, early and late neonatal bacteremia. Methods: We studied 1106 extremely low gestational age newborns who survived until postnatal day 28. We defined early definite bacteremia as a positive bacterial culture in the first week and definite late bacteremia as a positive bacterial culture in week 2, 3 or 4. Bacteremia was presumed if antibiotics were given for more than 72 h despite negative blood cultures. Results: Risk patterns did not differ much for presumed and definite bacteremia in the first postnatal month. While maternal and pregnancy characteristics were associated with early bacteremia, neonatal comorbidities, especially NEC, were the main antecedents/correlates of late bacteremia. All four categories of bacteremia were associated with younger gestational age and lower birth weight. Infants with presumed and definite bacteremia had similar distributions of days of ventilation and oxygenation. Conclusion: Definite and presumed late bacteremias have rather similar risk patterns, while those of early and late bacteremia differ appreciably.