Frequency of thrombocytopenia and its association with mortality among neonates having probable or culture proven sepsis.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine frequency of thrombocytopenia and its association with mortality among neonates having probable or culture proven sepsis. Study Design: Descriptive Analytical study. Setting: Multicentre study done at Neonatology Unit of Teaching Hospital Dera Ghazi Khan and Nishtar Medical University, Multan. Period: February 2019 to July 2019. Material & Methods: Three hundred neonates with culture proven sepsis were enrolled. Platelet counts along with frequency of thrombocytopenia (<150000/mm3) and mortality among all the neonates were recorded. Mortality among different groups according to platelet counts was compared adopting chi-square test. Results: Out of 300 neonates considered in the final analysis, 164 (54.7%) were male. Overall, median platelet count was 213.0mm³. TCP was present in 78 (26.0%) cases. Among 146 culture proven sepsis cases, 88 (61.8%) had gram positive while 58 (38.2%) had gram negative pathogens. Cases having thrombocytopenia had significantly higher mortality (n=26/78, 33.3%) as compared with those who had normal or increased platelet count (n=25/222, 11.3%) representing a significant p value (<0.00001). Conclusion: Thrombocytopenia is a common complication of culture proven and probable neonatal sepsis. Mortality is significantly high in neonatal sepsis along with thrombocytopenia.