Research Week Abstract Book - Northern Health

Women’s Health and Paediatrics
CRP VERSUS I/T RATIO IN SUSPECTED NEONATAL SEPsis
De Silva M, Fan WQ.
The Department of Paediatrics, Northern Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Background:
The management of neonatal sepsis is difficult because clinical presentations are non-specific, and laboratory testing lacks
sensitivity and specificity. This retrospective study evaluates the use and effectiveness of C-reactive protein (CRP) and
immature: total neutrophil ratio (I/T-ratio) as markers of the status of neonatal infection during antibiotic therapy.
Methods:
Retrospective patient data (n= 136) was collected on neonates of gestational age 33- 42 weeks admitted to The Northern
Hospital special care nursery (SCN) for suspected neonatal sepsis treated with at least 2 days of IV antibiotics from
September 2010 to August 2011. Data included: maternal risk factors, neonatal risk factors, clinical signs of neonatal infection
and outcomes, CRP (measured via the turbidimetric method) and I/T-ratios (raised CRP >8.0mg/L; I/T-ratio > 0.2). The
cohort was divided into clinically well and unwell subgroups. For paired data , CRP and I/T-ratio were compared statistically
(well n=35, unwell n=80). Regression analysis was performed on CRP and I/T-ratio versus antibiotic duration (well n=42,
unwell n=94).
Results:
More than 40% of all paired CRP and I/T-ratio data signaled opposite infection status. In the unwell group the paired data
was significantly discordant (p