Systemic responses of preterm newborns with presumed or documented bacteraemia.

Abstract

AIM:

To compare the frequency of elevated concentrations of inflammation-related proteins in the blood of infants born before the 28th week of gestation who had documented bacteraemia and those who had presumed (antibiotic-treated but culture-negative) bacteraemia to those who had neither.

METHODS:

The subjects of this study are the 868 infants born at 14 institutions for whom information about protein measurements on at least two of the three protocol days (days 1, 7, and 14) was available and who did not have Bell stage 3 necrotizing enterocolitis or isolated bowel perforation, which were strongly associated with bacteraemia in this sample.

RESULTS:

Newborns with presumed early (week 1) bacteraemia had elevated concentrations of only a few inflammation-related proteins, while those who had presumed late (weeks 2-4) bacteraemia did not have any elevations. In contrast, newborns who had documented early bacteraemia had a moderately strong signal, while those who had documented late bacteraemia had a stronger signal with more protein concentrations elevated on two separate occasions a week apart.

CONCLUSIONS:

Culture-confirmed early and late bacteraemia are accompanied/followed by systemic inflammatory responses not seen with presumed early and late bacteraemia.

• Authors: Alan Leviton, T Michael O'Shea, Francis J Bednarek, Elizabeth N Allred, Raina N Fichorova, Olaf Dammann, ELGAN Study Investigators
• Journal: Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) (Acta Paediatr) Vol. 101 Issue 4 Pg. 355-9 (Apr 2012) ISSN: 1651-2227 [Electronic] Norway
• PMID: 22085230 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)
• Copyright: © 2011 The Author(s)/Acta Paediatrica © 2011 Foundation Acta Paediatrica.

Chemical References

• Acute-Phase Proteins
• Anti-Bacterial Agents

Topics

• Acute-Phase Proteins (analysis)
• Anti-Bacterial Agents (therapeutic use)
• Bacteremia (diagnosis, drug therapy)
• Culture Techniques
• Gestational Age
• Humans
• Infant, Newborn
• Infant, Premature
• Infant, Premature, Diseases (blood, diagnosis, drug therapy)
• Time Factors