Background: Evidence is contradictory whether very low-birth-weight (VLBW, birth weight <1500 g) infants with early neutropenia (NP), especially those born to mothers with preeclampsia experience a greater incidence of nosocomial infection (NI).Objective: To investigate whether NP within the first 7 days of life is a risk factor for NI in VLBW infants.Methods: Over a 42-month period, we identified all VLBW infants born at p34 weeks gestation who survived for more than 72 h. Infants who had no evidence of early infection, who had at least one complete blood count performed in the first week of life, and who were not given prophylactic recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) were included in this retrospective study. Early NP was defined as an absolute neutrophil count less than 1500 per ml at any time during the first week of life. NI was defined as the culture of a bacterial or fungal pathogen from a sterile body fluid that was obtained after 72 h of life in an infant with one or more clinical signs of infection.Results: A total of 338 VLBW infants were reviewed. Of those, 51 infants were excluded because of death or onset of an infection before 72 h of age, lack of a complete blood count in the first week of life or treatment with rhG-CSF. Of the remaining 287 infants, NI occurred in 11 of 77 (14.3%) infants with early NP compared to 42 of 210 (20.0%) infants without early NP (P ¼ 0.31). Infants who developed NI were smaller and less mature, had lower Apgar scores, were more frequently instrumented with central lines and required a longer duration of parenteral nutrition compared to infants without NI. Infants with NI also had a higher mortality and a greater incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis, severe intraventricular hemorrhage and threshold retinopathy of prematurity. However, using stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis, only the duration of parenteral nutrition and gestational age were significant risk factors for NI.

Background: Early neonatal hypotension (ENH) is common in premature infants and has been claimed to occur more frequently in infants born to mothers with severe preeclampsia. Previous studies that showed a relationship between maternal preeclampsia and neonatal hypotension did not control for potential confounding factors such as birth weight and maternal treatment with magnesium sulfate (MgSO 4 ).Objective: To determine whether maternal preeclampsia is an independent risk factor for ENH.Study Design: We conducted a retrospective review of all viable singleton infants with gestational age of 23 to 30 weeks who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit over a 2-year period. ENH was defined as the persistence of the mean arterial pressure lower than the gestational age in weeks requiring volume expansion and inotropic support in the first 24 h of life.Results: One hundred and eighty four infants were enrolled. Seventy-five (41%) infants met the diagnostic criteria for ENH. Maternal preeclampsia, the presence of labor, maternal treatment with MgSO 4 , Apgar scores, birth weight, gestational age and respiratory distress syndrome were significantly associated with ENH by univariate analysis. Only gestational age and maternal preeclampsia were significantly associated with ENH by multiple logistic regression. Conclusion:Gestational age and maternal preeclampsia were independent risk factors for ENH in our population of premature infants.

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