Abstract

Neonatal sepsis is characterized by signs and symptoms of infection with or without accompanying bacteremia in the first month of life and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. The incidence of neonatal sepsis varies between 1 and8 neonates per 1000 live births. Neonatal sepsis may be classified into three groups: early-, late- and very late-onset sepsis. Clinical symptoms are generally subtle, but sepsis may rapidly progress and worsen, and may cause death within a few hours to days Aims and Objective: To determine the maternal and neonatal plasma vitamin D levels and the possible effect of the severity of Vitamin D deficiency on early onset sepsis Materials and methods: The cases included all the new borns who presented within 72 hours of age with clinical signs and laboratory findings of early onset sepsis. The controls included all the new borns with no signs of clinical/laboratory infection who aged less than 72 hours and stayed with their mother in the post natal ward. 110 mothers were included in this study, 55 mothers in case group and 55 mothers in control group and 110 neonates, 55 in each group were included. Results: Present study shows that 24 (43.3%) of mothers had deficient level of 25-hydroxy Vitamin D, while 14(25.4%) had insufficient levels and sufficient levels were found in 30.9% mothers only. While in control group 58.1% mothers has a sufficient levels of of 25-hydroxy Vitamin D while 23.6% had deficiency , 18.1% had insufficient levels respectively. 25-OHD deficiency in study group is statistically significant (p<0.026) as compared to control group. 35 (63.63%) of cases have positive blood culture. In culture positive group the most common organism is Burkholderia which is present in 38.1 % of study group followed by Pseudomonas (12.72%), MRSA(7%), Klebsiella (3.6%), E. coli (1.8%) respectively. Conclusion: Low levels of vitamin D both in the cord blood and maternal blood were significantly associated with neonatal sepsis.

Description