Seventy-five years of neonatal sepsis at Yale: 1928-2003

Yale-New Haven Hospital (Y-NHH) has maintained the longest running, single-center longitudinal database of neonatal sepsis, started in 1928. The objective of this study was to update this database with review of neonatal sepsis cases at Y-NHH to identify longitudinal trends in demographics, pathogens, and outcome.

Records of infants with positive blood cultures obtained while they were inpatients in the NICU at Y-NHH from 1989 to 2003 were reviewed retrospectively. Records of infants who were < or =30 days of age, had positive blood cultures, and were hospitalized at Y-NHH outside the NICU from the same period were also reviewed, and all findings were compared with 60 years of preexisting data.

A total of 862 organisms were identified in 755 episodes of sepsis from 647 infants. The percentage of cases of early-onset sepsis decreased and late-onset sepsis increased compared with the previous 10-year study period. A marked increase in cases as a result of commensal species was observed, particularly in preterm infants who had indwelling central vascular catheters, were receiving parenteral nutrition, and required prolonged mechanical ventilation. The overall percentage of sepsis caused by group B streptococcus and Escherichia coli decreased. No episodes of sepsis from Streptococcus pneumoniae or S pyogenes, common in the early years of the survey, were observed. The sepsis-related mortality rate steadily decreased, from 87% in 1928 to 3% in 2003.

The demographics, pathogens, and outcome associated with neonatal sepsis continue to change. The increase in late-onset sepsis in preterm infants who required prolonged intensive care indicates that strategies to prevent infection are urgently needed for this population of infants.