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New research: 80% of newborns considered LOW RISK for early onset sepsis (EOS) still received antibiotics
Quick Summary: A new study of 7,549 newborn babies found 80% considered LOW RISK for early-onset sepsis (EOS) — they all still received antibiotics.
To me, this is really shocking. A new study found 80% of newborn babies considered LOW RISK for early-onset sepsis (EOS) — they all still received antibiotics.
This means that in this study which included 7549 newborn babies, antibiotics are being administered to most newborns, even those with low risk for sepsis.
The Study:
The study was conducted by Dustin Flannery and colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the study was published in Pediatrics.
This was a retrospective cohort study of term and preterm infants born January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2014.
Blood culture with or without cerebrospinal fluid culture was obtained ≤72 hours after birth.
According to the abstract, of 53 575 births, 7549 infants (14.1%) were evaluated and 41 (0.5%) of those had EOS.
Low-risk delivery characteristics were present for 1121 (14.8%) evaluated infants, and none had EOS.
