Estimating the Probability of Neonatal Early-Onset Infection on the Basis of Maternal Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: To develop a quantitative model to estimate the probability of neonatal early-onset bacterial infection on the basis of maternal intrapartum risk factors. METHODS: This was a nested case-control study of infants born at >= 34 weeks' gestation at 14 California and Massachusetts hospitals from 1993 to 2007. Case-subjects had culture-confirmed bacterial infection at <72 hours; controls were randomly selected, frequency-matched 3:1 according to year and birth hospital. We performed multivariate analyses and split validation to define a predictive model based only on information available in the immediate perinatal period. RESULTS: We identified 350 case-subjects from a cohort of 608 014 live births. Highest intrapartum maternal temperature revealed a linear relationship with risk of infection below 100.5 degrees F, above which the risk rose rapidly. Duration of rupture of membranes revealed a steadily increasing relationship with infection risk. Increased risk was associated with both late-preterm and postterm delivery. Risk associated with maternal group B Streptococcus colonization is diminished in the era of group B Streptococcus prophylaxis. Any form of intrapartum antibiotic given >4 hours before delivery was associated with decreased risk. Our model showed good discrimination and calibration (c statistic = 0.800 and Hosmer-Lemeshow P=.142 in the entire data set). CONCLUSIONS: A predictive model based on information available in the immediate perinatal period performs better than algorithms based on risk-factor threshold values. This model establishes a prior probability for newborn sepsis, which could be combined with neonatal physical examination and laboratory values to establish a posterior probability to guide treatment decisions. Pediatrics 2011; 128: e1155-e1163