C-reactive protein- and clinical symptoms-guided strategy in term neonates with early-onset sepsis reduced antibiotic use and hospital stay: a quality improvement initiative

Table 1 Patients characteristics on infants with early-onset sepsis who met the criteria of the new guidelines

	Pre-implementation Period 1 (n = 61)	Post-implementation Period 2 (n = 59)	P-value
Sex
Female	26/61 (43%)	27/59 (46%)	0.73
Gestational age, weeks	40 (39–40)	40 (39–41)	0.91
Gestational days	283 (279–286)	281 (278–287)	0.99
Birthweight, (grams), mean (SD)	3768 (559)	3899 (497)	0.26
Arterial cord pH	7.20 (7.10–7.24) (n = 54)	7.22 (7.13–7.26) (n = 50)	0.080
Apgar score
5 min < 7	6/61 (9.8%)	3/59 (5.1%)	0.32
10 min < 7	4/61 (6.6%)	2/59 (3.4%)	0.43
Rupture of membranes
0–12 h	43/58 (74%)	37/53 (70%)	0.34
> 12–24 h	10/58 (17%)	7/53 (13%)	0.48
> 24 h-1 week	5/58 (8.6%)	9/53 (17%)	0.23
CRP mg/L	52 (37–62)	42 (31–56)	0.10
IL-6 ng/L	444 (152–1441) (n = 53)	322 (127–1470) (n = 54)	0.61

Term infants treated for early-onset sepsis (EOS) pre- and post-implementation of new antibiotic treatment guidelines. Period 1 and 2 include term infants with culture-negative sepsis who met the criteria of the guidelines. Data are median (IQR) or n/total (%) except for birthweight which is mean (SD). Numbers are less than n in each group where data were not available. CRP C-reactive protein, IL-6 Interleukin-6

ISSN: 1471-2431