Publication:

Predisposing factors for pneumonia in the neonatal period and acute phase reactants as a prognostic marker-a study in a tertiary care hospital of eastern India

Background Respiratory distress is the most common cause for NICU admission and pneumonia accounts for more than 50% of cases. There are different predisposing factors for occurrence of neonatal pneumonia. This study aimed to find out different predisposing factors leading to occurrence of pneumonia in neonates and also to study CRP and mESR as acute phase reactants to determine prognosis as these two markers are most widely used marker in clinical practice.

Methods A total 250 neonates who presented with features of pneumonia were included in the study. All the predisposing factors were corroborated with the clinical findings of the neonates and prognosis were assessed by serial acute phase reactants assay.

Results Most of the patients (57%) diagnosed with neonatal pneumonia have early onset neonatal sepsis. 66% of them had history of premature rupture of membrane >24 hours (p 4 had worst outcome (p 4 and blood culture positivity found to be risk factor for pneumonia in neonates and serial CRP may be done to determine the prognosis.