Victoria Mattox
Valley Children's Healthcare & Hospital
Title: Optimizing the Umbilical Cord: Identifying Cord Blood Neutropenia to help predict early onset sepsis
Biography
Biography: Victoria Mattox
Abstract
Early onset sepsis (EOS) in newborns can be hard to identify due to multiple contributing factors and a lack of early reliable markers that allow for definite identification. Clinicians depend on determining whether risk factors such as prematurity, prolonged rupture of membranes (PROM), under treatment for GBS positive or unknown mothers, and chorioamnionitis are present to help determine if there is a need to evaluate and treat sepsis prospectively. The identification of cord blood neutropenia has been introduced as an independent and adjunct marker to help identify EOS. The purpose of this study was to establish reference values for cord blood neutrophil counts per gestational age and to look at the sensitivity, specificity and favorable likelihood ratio of cord neutropenia as an independent marker and as an adjunct marker to detect EOS in newborns >34 weeks’ gestational age.