Table 2.
Length of stay, antibiotic use, sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis, and reinstitutions of antibiotic treatments in both periods according to birth weight.
| Variables | Birth Weight < 1000 g, Baseline(n = 44) |
Birth Weight < 1000 g, Intervention (n = 51) |
p | Birth Weight 1000–1500 g, Baseline (n = 67) | Birth Weight 1000–1500 g, Intervention (n = 68) | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median length of stay, days (IQR) | 73 (51–87) | 71 (21–96) | 0.86 | 37 (29–53) | 42 (28–56) | 0.76 |
| First antibiotic treatment Total, n (%) 48-h rule-out course, n (%) § Median duration, hours (IQR) |
39 (89) 2 (5) 168 (126–192) |
46 (90) 16 (35) 72 (48–96) |
0.93 <0.01 <0.01 |
43 (64) 1 (2) 168 (126–192) |
38 (56) 21 (55) 48 (48–72) |
0.42 <0.01 <0.01 |
| Days of therapy Total Median (IQR) |
1056 22 (12–36) |
893 11 (5–25) |
0.01 0.01 |
682 8 (0–15) |
454 3 (0–5) |
0.01 0.01 |
| Days of therapy/1000 patient-days | 367 | 266 | <0.01 | 238 | 154 | <0.01 |
| Early-onset sepsis, n (%) | 3 (7) | 3 (6) | 0.79 | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 0.99 |
| Late-onset sepsis, n (%) | 15 (34) | 13 (25) | 0.36 | 5 (7) | 4 (6) | 0.71 |
| Culture-negative sepsis, n (%) | 15 (34) | 9 (18) | 0.07 | 9 (13) | 4 (6) | 0.14 |
| Necrotizing enterocolitis, n (%) | 0 (0) | 3 (6) | 0.30 | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 0.99 |
| Reinstitution of an antibiotic treatment, n (%) | 16 (36) | 19 (37) | 0.93 | 10 (15) | 4 (6) | 0.08 |
IQR, interquartile range. § percent rates were calculated only on neonates who were given antibiotics. Sepsis due to coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) were six at baseline and two in the intervention period (extremely low birth weight neonates) or two at baseline and zero in the intervention period (very low birth weight neonates).