ABSTRACT
To study the effect of intrapartum antibiotics on neonatal mortality and morbidity for infants with culture-proven neonatal sepsis the records were reviewed of all live born infants with culture positive neonatal septicemia admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU], Women's Hospital, Qatar between January 1st 2004 and April 30th 2005. Of 113 infants with culture-proven septicemia, 59 had received intrapartum antibiotics. Using univariate analysis, infants whose mothers had received intrapartum antibiotics were less likely to survive the septic episode [OR 0.09, 95% CL 0.11-0.75, p=0.009] and more likely to have severe septicemia [OR 4.38, 95% CI 1.74-11.02, p = 0.01] but gestational age adjusted estimates of survival and severe sepsis showed no difference between study and comparison groups. Being retrospective the study had certain limitations in variables but there is no clear evidence that intrapartum use of antibiotics plays a direct role in increasing mortality in septicemic infants