• Ezra Ogundare, Akinyemi Akintayo, Theophilus Aladekomo, Lateef Adeyemi, Tinuade Ogunlesi, and Oyeku Oyelami.
• Ekiti State University, Paediatrics; Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Paediatrics.
• Afr Health Sci. 2019 Sep 1; 19 (3): 2390-2399.

BackgroundNeonatal Sepsis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates despite great advances in antimicrobial therapy and life support measures.ObjectivesTo compare the aetiology, risk factors, presentation and outcomes of care between early onset neonatal sepsis (EOS) and late onset neonatal sepsis (LOS).MethodsBacterial isolates were identified using blood cultures and antibiotic susceptibility testing was done using disc diffusion method. The risk factors, clinical presentation, laboratory findings and neonatal outcomes of the babies with EOS were compared with LOS. Statistical significance was set at P <0.05.ResultsNeonatal Sepsis was responsible for 16% of Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) admissions. Of the 72 babies with sepsis, 56 (77.8%) had EOS as against 16 (22.2%) who had late-onset sepsis. Low birth weight (p=0.01) and perinatal asphyxia (p=0.01) were significantly associated with EOS while for LOS, delivery outside the health facility (p=0.01) was the only significant risk factor. Respiratory distress was more significantly observed in EOS (p = 0.01). Neonatal deaths occurred in 32% of babies with EOS while all babies with culture positive LOS survived.ConclusionEarly onset neonatal sepsis is associated with high likelihood of neonatal mortality. Unsupervised delivery, birth asphyxia and low birth weight are risk factors associated with neonatal sepsis. Efforts to ensure supervised hospital delivery and improvement in neonatal resuscitation may reduce the incidence of neonatal sepsis and its attendant complications.© 2019 Ogundare et al.

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