Early Blood Pressure Changes in Neonatal Sepsis and the Risk of Mortality

To compare blood pressures (BP) between neonates with culture-proven sepsis and clinical sepsis in the first 120 h of sepsis onset and to examine association between BP and in-hospital mortality. In this cohort study, consecutively enrolled neonates with ‘culture-proven’ sepsis [growth in blood/ cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within 48 h] and clinical sepsis (sepsis workup negative, cultures sterile) were analyzed. Their BP was recorded every 3-hourly for initial 120 h and averaged in 20 time-epochs of 6 h each (0–6 h to 115–120 h). BP Z-scores were compared between neonates with culture-proven vs. clinical sepsis and survivors vs. non-survivors. Two hundred twenty eight neonates (102—culture-proven and 126—clinical sepsis) were enrolled. Both groups had comparable BP Z-scores except significantly lower diastolic BP (DBP) and mean BP (MBP) in 0–6 and 13–18 time-epochs in culture-proven sepsis group. Fifty-four neonates (24