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Background: Length of stay is a significant indicator of care effectiveness and hospital performance. Owing to the limited number of healthcare centers and facilities, it is important to optimize length of stay and associated factors.Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate factors associated with neonatal length of stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) using parametric and semiparametric models and compare model fitness according to Akaike information criterion (AIC) between 2016 and 2018.Methods: This retrospective cohort study reviewed 600 medical records of infants admitted to the NICU of Bandar Abbas Hospital. Samples were identified using census sampling. Factors associated with NICU length of stay were investigated based on semiparametric Cox model and 4 parametric models including Weibull, exponential, log-logistic, and log-normal to determine the best fitted model. The data analysis was conducted using R software. The significance level was set at 0.05.Results: The study findings suggest that breastfeeding, phototherapy, acute renal failure, presence of mechanical ventilation, and availability of central venous catheter were commonly identified as factors associated with NICU length of stay in all 5 models (<i>P</i><0.05). Parametric models showed better fitness than the Cox model in this study.Conclusion: Breastfeeding and availability of central venous catheter had protective effects against length of stay, whereas phototherapy, acute renal failure, and mechanical ventilation increased length of stay in NICU. Therefore, the identification of factors associated with NICU length of stay can help establish effective interventions aimed at decreasing the length of stay among infants.

Background: Neonatal sepsis is one of the most important causes of an infant’s death, and the identification of its factors has been the subject of many studies. Some new evidence suggested the role of vitamin D in the occurrence of sepsis in infants. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the serum levels of vitamin D in neonates with sepsis in the first week of birth and healthy neonates. Methods: This case-control study was performed on 72 term neonates (36 neonates with sepsis as the case and 36 healthy neonates as the control group) who referred to Bandar Abbas children's hospitals, Bandar Abbas, Iran, from 2016 - 2017. Results: Serum vitamin D levels were measured in all infants and their mothers in both sepsis and control groups. In addition, data were collected, including sex, birth weight, C-reactive protein (CRP), and duration of hospitalization in neonates with sepsis. The mean serum level of vitamin D was 18.52 ± 11.49 ng/mL in sepsis and 20.52 ± 13.75 ng/mL in neonates of the control group (P ≥ 0.05). The mean maternal serum level of vitamin D in sepsis control groups was 22.44 ± 11.26 and 24.36 ± 12.82 ng/mL, respectively (P ≥ 0.05). There was a positive correlation between maternal and neonatal vitamin D levels in the sepsis (r = 0.803) and the control (r = 0.756) groups. However, there was no significant difference between vitamin D level and CRP (P = 0.148) and length of hospital stay (P = 0.396) in the sepsis group. Conclusions: Although the results of the present study showed a correlation between serum vitamin D levels in mothers and neonates with neonatal sepsis, there was no significant correlation between neonates with and without sepsis regarding vitamin D levels.