Clinical efficacy and safety of meropenem in the treatment of severe neonatal bacterial infectious pneumonia

Objective: The goal of this study was to analyze the clinical efficacy and safety of meropenem for the treatment of severe neonatal bacterial infectious pneumonia. Methods: A total of 110 cases of neonates with bacterial infectious pneumonia that were admitted to Qilu Children's Hospital of Shandong University from December 2014 to December 2017 were gathered and divided into an experimental group (n=55) and a control group (n=55) according to the parity of their admission order. The control group was treated with imipenem, while the experimental group was treated with meropenem, and then the two groups were compared in efficacy, adverse reactions, and inflammatory indexes. Results: There was no statistical difference in nutritional status and inflammatory indexes between the two groups before treatment (all P>0.05). Compared with the control group, the experimental group showed better efficacy, lower incidence of adverse reactions as well as lower indexes of procalcitonin, white blood cell, c-reactive protein, and neutrophils after treatment, and the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). Conclusion: Meropenem can effectively improve the condition of neonates with bacterial infectious pneumonia, and it has fewer adverse reactions, which is safer and more reliable.