Temperature on admission among cases of neonatal sepsis and its association with mortality

Objective: to ascertain the prevalence of hyperthermia and different categories of hypothermia among the cases of probable and culture-proven neonatal sepsis,and to evaluate association of mortality rate with axillary temperature at admission. methods: this analytical study was conducted at fazl-e-omar hospital,rabwah,pakistan,from january to december 2013,and comprised all cases of culture-proven and probable neonatal sepsis admitted in the neonatal intensive-care unit of the hospital. using world health organisation classification,cases were categorised according to their temperature on admission,and outcome was recorded. spss 20 was used for data analysis. results: of the 374 patients,47(12.6%) died. besides,217(58%) cases had normal temperature,49(13.1%) had hyperthermia,50(13.4%) had mild hypothermia,and 58(15.5%) had moderate hypothermia. mortality rate was high among cases with mild and moderate hypothermia i.e. 15(32.6%) and 15(33%),compared with the mortality rate in cases with normal temperature i.e. 12(6.1%). mortality rate among cases with hyperthermia was 5(11.6%). in early onset cases,33(16.2%) had mild and 45(22.1%) had moderate hypothermia. in late onset cases,37(21.8%) had hyperthermia. conclusion: most cases with neonatal sepsis had normal temperature. mild and moderate hypothermia were found to be associated with higher mortality rate. � 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.