Abstract

In the first month of life, the presence of infection symptoms, with or without bacteremia, is diagnostic of neonatal sepsis. It's the leading cause of mortality and illness among infants. The number of newborns diagnosed with sepsis during the first week of life ranges anywhere from one to eight for every thousand live births. Neonatal sepsis may be broken down into three distinct categories: early-onset, late-onset, and very late-onset sepsis Aims and Objective: To evaluate the impact of vitamin D status at birth and in the mother's plasma on the risk of sepsis. Materials and methods: All infants presenting with symptoms and test evidence consistent with early onset sepsis in the first 72 hours of life were considered cases. All newborns less than 72 hours old who remained in the post natal unit with their mothers and showed no evidence of clinical/laboratory infection were included as controls. There were a total of 110 moms and their newborns analysed in this study: 55 in the case group and 55 in the control group. Results: Both maternal and newborns mean 25-OH Vitamin D levels are low and statistically significant (p<0.001) in study group as compared to control group. The mean 25-OH cholecalciferol levels among term is 17.34ng/ml(±4.8) and in preterm is 13.5ng/ml(±2.9) and this data is statistically significant(p-0.04). Conclusion: Infant sepsis was shown to have strong ties to low vitamin D levels in the mother's blood and the umbilical cord blood.

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