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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 11.
Published in final edited form as: J Perinatol. 2017 May 11;37(8):911–921. doi: 10.1038/jp.2017.67

Table 2.

Infant clinical signs noted by study physician at enrollment/first episode admission by age at enrollment

Signs at sepsis work-up No. of infants with sign by age at enrollment n (% of N enrolled)
0–3 days (N=38) 4–7 days (N=103) 8–28 days (N=376) 29–60 days (N=325) Overall (N=842)

Poor feeding/poor sucking** 30 (79%) 47 (46%) 134 (36%) 76 (23%) 287 (34%)

Fever** 5 (13%) 28 (27%) 219 (58%) 208 (64%) 460 (55%)

Cyanosis 2 (5%) 0 (0%) 7 (2%) 3 (1%) 12 (1%)

Abdominal distension** 4 (11%) 9 (9%) 60 (16%) 15 (5%) 88 (10%)

Seizures 4 (11%) 5 (5%) 10 (3%) 11 (3%) 30 (4%)

Bleeding** 3 (8%) 1 (1%) 2 (1%) 2 (1%) 8 (1%)

Tachypnea** 10 (26%) 8 (8%) 97 (26%) 143 (44%) 258 (31%)

Shock** 3 (8%) 0 (0%) 6 (2%) 0 (0%) 9 (1%)

Decreased activity or lethargy** 25 (66%) 28 (27%) 85 (23%) 44 (14%) 182 (22%)

Hypothermia** 10 (26%) 7 (7%) 20 (5%) 4 (1%) 41 (5%)

Diarrhea* 0 (0%) 1 (1%) 15 (4%) 26 (8%) 42 (5%)

Apneic spells 2 (5%) 1 (1%) 4 (1%) 3 (1%) 10 (1%)

Jaundice** 9 (24%) 19 (18%) 8 (2%) 1 (<1%) 37 (4%)

Chest wall retractions** 9 (24%) 5 (5%) 72 (19%) 95 (29%) 181 (21%)

Sclerema 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 4 (1%) 0 (0%) 6 (1%)

Cough** 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 52 (14%) 95 (29%) 149 (18%)

Pustules** 1/ 1 (3%) 46 (45%) 57 (15%) 4 (1%) 108 (13%)

Abscess** 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 28 (7%) 7 (2%) 35 (4%)

Cellulitis 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 6 (2%) 7 (2%) 15 (2%)

Umbilical discharge/infection** 2/ 1 (3%) 14 (14%) 42 (11%) 8 (2%) 65 (8%)

Vomiting 2 (5%) 0 (0%) 5 (1%) 7 (2%) 14 (2%)

Dehydration 1 (3%) 8 (8%) 12 (3%) 10 (3%) 31 (4%)

Oral thrush 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 13 (3%) 2 (1%) 15 (2%)

Other 9 (24%) 15 (15%) 61 (16%) 49 (15%) 134 (16%)

Number of signs reported per infant
 1 2 (5%) 27 (26%) 75 (20%) 70 (22%) 174 (21%)
 2 13 (34%) 34 (33%) 129 (34%) 106 (33%) 282 (33%)
 3 9 (24%) 24 (23%) 76 (20%) 95 (29%) 204 (24%)
 4+ 14 (37%) 18 (17%) 96 (26%) 54 (17%) 182 (22%)
1/

Includes mention of “pustules”, “boils”, and “pyoderma”.

2/

Includes mention of “umbilical discharge”, “omphalitis”, and “umbilical sepsis”.

**

p ≤ 0.001,

*

p ≤ 0.01,

p ≤ 0.05 for a difference in the proportions by age at enrollment, by chi-square test.