Eosinophil count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte count ratio as biomarkers for predicting early-onset neonatal sepsis

摘要

Despite advances in neonatal intensive care, sepsis remains a major cause of neonatal death and morbidity. Culture-confirmed early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS), defined as that occurring within 48–72 hours after birth, was determined to have an incidence of 0.4–0.8 per 1,000 live-born term infants in a culture study of developed countries [ ]. However, the use of systemic antibiotics in infants with culture-negative EONS is reportedly 6–16 times higher than in infants with culture-confirmed EONS [ , ].