Muhammad Siddique, Khalida Naz Memon, Muhammad Anwar Sulehri.
Neonatal Sepsis - its Determinants & Outcome among Newborns admitted in NICU, Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad.
Med Forum Jan ;2(7):94-8.

Background: Neonatal sepsis is a life threatening emergency and is one of the commonest causes of neonatal mortality in developing countries. It is very difficult to diagnose because of multiple risk factors & non specific clinical signs. Objectives: To assess frequency of neonatal sepsis & to identify its determinants & outcomes among newborns. Study Design: Hospital based descriptive cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad from 1st July 2011-31st October 2011. Materials and Methods: The data was collected through questionnaire based interviews from duty doctors regarding health status of neonates along with laboratory investigation reports. The criteria for the case diagnosis was maternal history, newborns’ clinical findings & laboratory diagnostic work up including blood culture, blood cell counts & C-reactive proteins. The results were analyzed by using SPSS version 16 for various socio-demographic variables & for the outcome of the disease. Results: Among total 236 newborns admitted in NICU, 115 neonates (48.7%) were diagnosed as neonatal sepsis. Gender of new borne was not related with occurrence of neonatal sepsis, but males were at greater risk of developing sepsis from nosocomial infection. (p= 0.04). Strong association was also seen for neonates who were low birth weight (p= 0.01), had maternal peripartum history (p=0.01), & family’s poor socio-economic background (p=0.02). Conclusions: Neonatal sepsis was frequent presentation of the new borne admitted in NICU; it was associated with wide variety of risk factors.

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