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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Modeling Encephalopathy of Prematurity Using Prenatal Hypoxia-ischemia with Intra-amniotic Lipopolysaccharide in Rats
Published on: November 20, 2015
The association between early-onset sepsis and neonatal encephalopathy
Kathleen P Car1, Firdose Nakwa1, Fatima Solomon2,3
1Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Objective:
We evaluated the association between early-onset sepsis and neonatal encephalopathy in a low-middle-income setting.
Methods:
We undertook a retrospective study in newborns with gestational age ≥35 weeks and/or birth weight ≥2500 grams, diagnosed with neonatal encephalopathy. Early-onset sepsis was defined as culture-confirmed sepsis or probable sepsis.
Results:
Of 10,182 hospitalised newborns, 1027 (10.1%) were diagnosed with neonatal encephalopathy, of whom 52 (5.1%) had culture-confirmed and 129 (12.5%) probable sepsis. The case fatality rate for culture-confirmed sepsis associated neonatal encephalopathy was threefold higher compared to neonatal encephalopathy without sepsis (30.8% vs. 10.5%, p < 0.001). Predictors of mortality for culture-confirmed sepsis associated neonatal encephalopathy included severe neonatal encephalopathy (aOR 6.51, 95%CI: 1.03-41.44) and seizures (aOR 10.64, 95%CI: 1.05-107.39).
Conclusion:
In this setting, 5% of neonatal encephalopathy cases was associated with culture-confirmed sepsis and a high case fatality rate.
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