Journal Article

Antibiotic use for inpatient newborn care with suspected infection: EN-BIRTH multi-country validation study

Rahman, Qazi Sadeq-ur, Kija, Edward, Tahsina, Tazeen, Campbell, Harry, Khan, Jasmin, Lawn, Joy E., Ruysen, Harriet, Peven, Kimberly, Ahmed, Anisuddin, Ameen, Shafiqul, Ram, Pavani K., Salim, Nahya, Qazi, Shamim A., Kong, Stefanie, Rahman, Ahmed Ehsanur, El Arifeen, Shams, K.C., Ashish, Hailegebriel, Tedbabe Degefie, Hossain, Aniqa Tasnim, Zaman, Sojib Bin, Day, Louise T.

2021

Overview

Background An estimated 30 million neonates require inpatient care annually, many with life-threatening infections. Appropriate antibiotic management is crucial, yet there is no routine measurement of coverage. The Every Newborn Birth Indicators Research Tracking in Hospitals (EN-BIRTH) study aimed to validate maternal and newborn indicators to inform measurement of coverage and quality of care. This paper reports validation of reported antibiotic coverage by exit survey of mothers for hospitalized newborns with clinically-defined infections, including sepsis, meningitis, and pneumonia. Methods EN-BIRTH study was conducted in five hospitals in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Tanzania (July 2017–July 2018). Neonates were included based on case definitions to focus on term/near-term, clinically-defined infection syndromes (sepsis, meningitis, and pneumonia), excluding major congenital abnormalities. Clinical management was abstracted from hospital inpatient case notes (verification) which was considered as the gold standard against which to validate accuracy of women’s report. Exit surveys were conducted using questions similar to The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) approach for coverage of childhood pneumonia treatment. We compared survey-report to case note verified, pooled across the five sites using random effects meta-analysis. Results A total of 1015 inpatient neonates admitted in the five hospitals met inclusion criteria with clinically-defined infection syndromes. According to case note verification, 96.7% received an injectable antibiotic, although only 14.5% of them received the recommended course of at least 7 days. Among women surveyed ( n  = 910), 98.8% (95% CI: 97.8–99.5%) correctly reported their baby was admitted to a neonatal ward. Only 47.1% (30.1–64.5%) reported their baby’s diagnosis in terms of sepsis, meningitis, or pneumonia. Around three-quarters of women reported their baby received an injection whilst in hospital, but 12.3% reported the correct antibiotic name. Only 10.6% of the babies had a blood culture and less than 1% had a lumbar puncture. Conclusions Women’s report during exit survey consistently underestimated the denominator (reporting the baby had an infection), and even more so the numerator (reporting known injectable antibiotics). Admission to the neonatal ward was accurately reported and may have potential as a contact point indicator for use in household surveys, similar to institutional births. Strengthening capacity and use of laboratory diagnostics including blood culture are essential to promote appropriate use of antibiotics. To track quality of neonatal infection management, we recommend using inpatient records to measure specifics, requiring more research on standardised inpatient records.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Anti-Bacterial Agents / Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use / Antibiotics / Antimicrobial agents / Antimicrobial resistance / Bacterial / Bacterial infections / Bangladesh / Bangladesh - epidemiology / Births / Childrens health / Coverage / drug therapy / Drug Utilization / Drug Utilization - statistics & numerical data / epidemiology / Female / Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi / Gynecology / Health Care / Hospital records / Hospitalization / Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data / Humans / Infant / Infant Care / Infant Care - organization & administration / Infant Care - statistics & numerical data / Infant, Newborn / Information systems / Laboratories / Male / Maternal and Child Health / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Meningitis / Meningitis, Bacterial - drug therapy / Meningitis, Bacterial - epidemiology / Mortality / Neonatal infections / Neonatal Sepsis / Neonatal Sepsis - drug therapy / Neonatal Sepsis - epidemiology / Nepal / Nepal - epidemiology / Newborn / Newborn babies / Nosocomial infections / organization & administration / Pneumonia / Pneumonia, Bacterial - drug therapy / Pneumonia, Bacterial - epidemiology / Pregnancy / Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology / Quality Indicators / Quality Indicators, Health Care - statistics & numerical data / Quality of care / Recall / Reproductive Medicine / Sepsis / statistics & numerical data / Survey / Surveys and Questionnaires / Surveys and Questionnaires - statistics & numerical data / Tanzania / Tanzania - epidemiology / therapeutic use / Validation studies / Validity / Young Adult