Published in:
01-02-2022 | Septicemia | Short Communication
COVID-19 pandemic in the neonatal intensive care unit: any effect on late-onset sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis?
Published in: European Journal of Pediatrics | Issue 2/2022
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The study was aimed at describing potential indirect effects of pandemic-related measures on very-low-birthweight infants in four Italian NICUs. No overall change in late-onset sepsis (LOS) and necrotizing enterocolitis was documented. However, in the NICU where baseline LOS rate was high, a significant reduction in LOS incidence was recorded.
Conclusion: COVID-19-related implementation of NICU hygiene policies is likely to reduce the occurrence of LOS in high-risk settings.
What is Known:
• COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), mostly by tightening infection control measures and restricting parental presence in the NICU.
• Beyond the described psychological impact of COVID-19 related measures on healthcare workers and NICU families, their consequences in terms of preterm infants’ clinical outcomes have not been described in detail yet.
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What is New:
• Strengthened infection-control measures do not seem to have an overall influence on the incidence of necrotising enterocolitis and late-onset sepsis in very-low-birth-weight infants.
• However, the implementation of these measures appears to reduce the occurrence of late-onset sepsis in settings where the baseline incidence of the disease is high.
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