A Neonatal Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score as a Predictor of Mortality in Neonates with Late-Onset Sepsis

Abstract

lthough overall survival rates among preterm infants have improved, sepsis remains a significant factor associated with long-term morbidity and mortality in this population. Sepsis is defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. There are two types of neonatal sepsis, early- and late-onset. Late-onset sepsis is usually caused by organisms acquired after delivery and considered as hospital / community-acquired infection. Late-onset sepsis (sepsis that occurs after 72 hours of life) affects 20% to 30% of the most preterm infants and has a 15% mortality rate. Despite multiple efforts, the methods of diagnosis, clinical management, and outcomes for preterm infants with late-onset sepsis have been largely unchanged over several decades. These findings are in part due to a lack of an accepted consensus definition for sepsis and a paucity of validated metrics reliably associated with sepsis-related mortality in this population. Life-threatening organ dysfunction is substantiated by a Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score tha