The Efficacy of Clinical Strategies to Reduce Nosocomial Sepsis in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of clinical strategies to reduce nosocomial sepsis (NS) in extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWI) less than 1,000 g. Data from the period before (P1, 1995-2000) and after (P2, 2001-2002) implementation of the strategies were collected and analyzed. The intervention strategies included restriction of antibiotic therapy, less use of invasive procedures such as umbilical vessel catheterization and endotracheal intubation, establishment of guidelines for hand-washing, infant handling, and central intravascular line management. NS was defined as positive blood cultures in symptomatic patients after the third day of life with the use of antibiotics for more than 5 days. Although the gestational age (GA) and birth weight (BW) were significantly lower in P2 (GA 26.7 +/-2.1 wk; BW 796 +/-130 g) compared to P1 (GA 27.2 +/-1.6 wk; BW 857 +/-121 g), the incidence of NS decreased significantly from 70% (69/99) in P1 to 17% (24/71) in P2 with the implementation of the intervention strategies. The coagulase negative Staphylococcus infection was also significantly reduced from 34% in P1 to 11% in P2. The implementation of the clinical strategies was quite effective in reducing the incidence of NS in ELBWI.

Low Birth Weight, Very Low Birth Weight Rates and Gestational Age-Specific Birth Weight Distribution of Korean Newborn Infants

To obtain the low birth weight (LBW) rate, the very low birth weight (VLBW) rate, and gestational age (GA)-specific birth weight distribution based on a large population in Korea, we collected and analyzed the birth data of 108,486 live births with GA greater than 23 weeks for 1 yr from 1 January to 31 December 2001, from 75 hospitals and clinics located in Korea. These data included birth weight, GA, gender of the infants, delivery type, maternal age, and the presence of multiple pregnancy. The mean birth weight and GA of a crude population are 3,188 +/-518 g and 38.7+/-2.1 weeks, respectively. The LBW and the VLBW rates are 7.2% and 1.4%, respectively. The preterm birth rate (less than 37 completed weeks of gestation) is 8.4% and the very preterm birth rate (less than 32 completed weeks of gestation) is 0.7%. The mean birth weights for female infants, multiple births, and births delivered by cesarean section were lower than those for male, singletons, and births delivered vaginally. The risk of delivering LBW or VLBW infant was higher for the teenagers and the older women (aged 35 yr and more). We have also obtained the percentile distribution of GA-specific birth weight in infants over 23 weeks of gestation.

Effect of Probiotics on Feeding Intolerance in Infants with Very Low Birth Weight / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To explore effect of probiotics on improving the feeding intolerance in very low birth weight infants(VLBWI). Methods Sixty cases of VLBWI were randomly divided into two groups, 30 infants as therapy group,another 30 infants as control group.All infants in two groups were given aggressive intravenous nutrition and enteral feeding with preterm formulars. At the same time, probiotics were administered combined with preterm formulars to infants in therapy group. Milk amount, gastric residual, initial time of enteral feeding, time required for full enteral feeding and body weight on day 21 after birth were all recorded.Results Rate of no gastric residual increased significantly in therapy group compared with that of control group(t=6.24 P