Frequency of Thrombocytopenia in Neonatal Sepsis

Objective: To determine the frequency of neonatal thrombocytopenia among patients presented with sepsis at tertiary care Hospital. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of pediatrics SKBZ/CMH Muzaffarabad, during six months from September 2018 to March 2019. All the diagnosed septic neonates, age < 28 days and either gender were included. Their basic demographic data like age and gender, along with their contact details were taken. The sample of blood was sent in blood culture bottles to hospital laboratory to confirm bacterial growth, that was diagnosed as sepsis. Blood sample was sent to the hospital also to diagnose thrombocytopenia. Reports were consulted by the pathologist. All the data were collected by a structured study proforma. All data were entered and analyzed with the help of SPSS version 22. Results: The mean age of patients was 8.92 +/- 5.40 days with minimum and maximum age as 1 and 27 days. There were 117(47.56%) males and 129(52.44%) female cases. A total of 40(16.26%) cases had their maternal hypertension, 54(21.95%) neonates had gram + and 157(63.82%) neonates had Gram negative. A total of 63(25.61%) cases had thrombocytopenia while 183(74.39%) neonates were seen without thrombocytopenia. The frequency of thrombocytopenia was statistically insignificant according to gender and types of culture (p->0.05). Conclusion: It is concluded that frequency of thrombocytopenia in neonatal sepsis was found in a quarter of the cases. In neonatal sepsis, thrombocytopenia must be ruled out at patient's presentation and must be treated as early as possible as thrombocytopenia is an independent risk factor for sepsis-associated mortality.