An evaluation of prescribing trends of antibiotics used in neonatal sepsis in a tertiary care hospital of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

To find out commonly used antibiotic combinations in the management of neonatal sepsis, prevalence of early onset sepsis (EOS) and late onset sepsis (LOS) in a public sector tertiary care hospital of Lahore. Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome of bacteremia with systemic signs and symptoms of infection in the first 4 weeks of life. Neonatal sepsis is an important and common cause of morbidity and mortality in full term as well as preterm neonates. A retrospective observational study was conducted at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital of Lahore from September 2013 to November 2013. 50 cases of neonatal sepsis suspected on clinical grounds were included in this study. LOS was more prevalent (60%) as compared to EOS (40%). Three combinations of antibiotics were frequently being used. Combination of Amikacin, Ampicillin & Ceftazidime was the most frequently used (48%) followed by combination of Amikacin, Ampicillin and Cefotaxime (30%), and combination of Vancomycin with Meropenam (22%). High potency antibiotics were being used frequently with less reliance on performance of culture tests for definitive therapy selection.