European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Neonatal Sepsis is the major cause of neonatal mortality among developing countries, the diagnosis of which depends on blood culture, which has low sensitivity and takes time.
Aim & Objective : To know whether Nucleated red blood cell count can be the first prognostic marker for adverse outcome in neonatal sepsis.
Materials and method: This was a hospital based prospective study conducted among neonates with clinical feature of  sepsis in department of paediatrics, Govt Medical College, Siddipet, Telangana State, for the duration of one year. 50 patients were selected for the study after getting their informed consent and following inclusion and exclusion criteria, the maternal details and examination findings were recorded and blood sample taken for sepsis screen, blood culture and peripheral smear for NRBC.
Results: Sensitivity of NRBC in identifying sepsis was 86.9%, its specificity was 69.3%, positive predictive value was 74.2%, and negative predictive value was 77.56%, with cut off value of 16.4. Also study observed 6/26(23%) mortality among neonates with sepsis. And its was 12% among all study samples.
Conclusion: NRBC is significantly elevated in the neonatal sepsis and  it can be predictor of adverse neonatal outcome.