Previously submitted to: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting (no longer under consideration since Aug 06, 2026)
Date Submitted: Nov 23, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Risk factors of neonatal sepsis among neonates admitted in neonatal intensive care unit at governmental Hospitals, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2019: A case control study.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
Neonatal sepsis remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. It is responsible to cause 40% of mortality in Sub Saharan Africa. However, data in relation to risk factors of neonatal sepsis to essential newborn care in our study area are very scarce.
Objective:
Objective:
The aim of the study to assess the risk factors of neonatal sepsis among neonates admitted in neonatal intensive care unit at governmental Hospitals, Tigray.
Methods:
Methods:
A case-control study was conducted, among 140 cases and 280 controls from October to November 2019 in seven public hospitals. Neonatal diagnosed as sepsis were considered as cases and neonates diagnosed with other problem were considered as controls. Data were entered and cleaned using Epi-data version 3.02 and export into SPSS version 21 for analysis. Binary logistic regression was performed to identify having risk association. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant during multivariable logistic regression.
Results:
Results:
The proportion of early onset neonatal sepsis was higher, which accounts 72% than late onset neonatal sepsis among cases. Factors significantly associated with neonatal sepsis were: Premature rupture of membrane [AOR= 4.41; 95% CI (2.00, 9.68)]; Urinary tract infection/Sexual transmitted infection; [AOR= 6.35; 95% CI (2.99, 13.51)]; not cries immediately after birth [AOR= 4.27; 95% CI (2.30, 7.91)]; failure to use chlorhexidine cord application [AOR= 4.60; 95% CI (2.32, 9.10)]; breast feeding not initiated immediately within 1 hour after birth [AOR= 3.32; 95% CI (1.77, 6.23)]; rural resident [AOR = 2.25; 95% CI (1.30, 3.92)]; and male sex [AOR = 2.05; 95% CI (1.19, 3.53)].
Conclusions:
Conclusion: Both maternal and neonatal factors were significantly associated with the risk of neonatal sepsis. Particularly lack of implementation of essential newborn care was highly contributed for developing sepsis. Strengthen the implementation of focused antenatal care for early detection and treatment of PROM and UTI/STI is crucial.
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