Abstract:
Background:Neonatal sepsis contributes substantially to neonatal morbidity and mortality and a
high-priority public health issue, particularly in the context of developing countries and delay in
early identification and treatment of neonatal sepis is among the main contributors.In Ethiopia,
neonatal sepsis is among theleading causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality.This study is
aimed at identifying the magnitude and associated factors of neonatal sepsis in Hiwot fana
specialized university hospital so that it guides preventive strategies to decrease the burden of
neonatal sepsis
Objective: To determine magnitude and associated factors of neonatal sepsis among neonates
admitted to Hiwot fana specialized university hospital Neonatal intensive care unit.
Methodology: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 neonates
with their respective mothers admitted to Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital NICU
from November 042022 to January 30 2023.The consecuative sampling technique was usedfrom
the neonates who were admitted to NICU until the required sample size was reached.All
neonates admitted to NICU in the study period were included. Those excluded were whose
mothers were not available after 3 consecutive days of wait and those re admitted during the
study period.Data were collected through face to face interviews and neonatal records
reviewusing pretested structured questionnaire.The data were entered to SPSS version 26
software for analysis. The binary logistic regression model was used to test the association
between depenedent and independent variable and multivariable logistic regression was used to
control possible confounders andp-value < 0.05 was considered as a statistically significant
association.
Result: The magnitude of neonatal sepsis in the study was 68%. The study found that factors
associated with neonatal sepsis were premature rupture of membrane (AOR=2.98; 95%CI: 1.27-
7.00),history of intrapartalfever (AOR= 1.34; 95%CI: (1.01, 2.09)and prelacteal feeding (AOR=
2.58; 95%CI: 1.15-4.83)
Conclusion:These study highlighted neonatal sepsis is high in the study area and factors
associated with neonatal sepsis are premature rupture of membrane,intrapartal fever, prelacteal
feeding
