apoptotic changes in the early diagnosis and severity determination of neonatal sepsis

Objectives:the aim of this study was to assess the presence of dna damage in fullterm newborns with neonatal sepsis. methods:sixty neonates with early onset neonatal sepsis and 45 apparently healthy controls were enrolled in the study. screening of neonates was done using a modified clinical sepsis score and hematological scoring system, adjusted to the results of blood culture and screening tests. complete blood count, creactive protein (crp), and dna studies were done. results:sepsis was likely in 41 (68.3%) patients with scores of 3 or 4 and crp levels of 12 48 mg/l. sepsis was very likely in 19 (31.7%) patients with scores of ≥ 5 and crp of 48 96 mg/l. sepsis was unlikely in all controls with scores of ≤ 2. the mean neutrophil count was 9700 ± 4600/µl in patients and 4230 ± 1400/µl in controls. the higher the total polymorphonuclear count and crp level, the more severe was the sepsis. twentysix of 60 (43.3%) sepsis patients and 5 of 45 controls (11%) had dna damage. there was a highly significant negative correlation between dna damage, blood culture results, and crp levels. conclusions:dna damage, demonstrated by clinical and laboratory evidence with a combination of blood cultures, crp, and hematological scoring system results, can be used as an indicator of both the immune status of the neonate and the severity of the sepsis.