Mirza Sultan Ahmad, Ahsan Ahmad, Waqar Nasir.
WBC Count in Probable and Culture Proven Neonatal Sepsis and its Association with Mortality.
Pak Paed J Jan ;38(4):211-5.

Background: Interpretation of WBC counts in cases of neonatal sepsis is of prime importance. Methods: All cases of probable and culture proven neonatal sepsis, admitted in NICU of Fazle-Omar Hospital Rabwah from January 2011 to December 2013 were included in this study. WBC counts were done by Madonic CA 620 analyzer. Results: 469 neonates were included in this study. 68(14.5%) patients died. Median WBC count was 17.20. Minimum level was 1.7 and maximum was 62.90. Majority of patients i.e. 361 (77.0%) had normal WBC count. Leucocytosis was present in 92(19.4%) patients and Leucopenia was present in 16(3.6%) patients. The patients with leucopenia suffered highest mortality rate i.e. 50.0%. The mortality rate of patients with leucocytosis was 23.1%, while mortality rate of those with normal WBC count was 12.3%. Conclusions: Most cases of neonatal sepsis have got normal WBC counts. Those with leucopenia and leucocytosis have got higher mortality rate.

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