Abstract
BackgroundNeonatal sepsis is an invasive infection, usually bacterial, and often occurring during the neonatal period (0–28 days). Neonatal sepsis causes a high burden of morbidity and mortality in developing countries like Ethiopia. There are fragmented, inconsistency, and no review has been conducted to report the magnitude and associated factors of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia. Thus, this study aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis and its association with birth weight and gestational age among admitted neonates in Ethiopia.MethodsElectronic media searches like PubMed, CINHAL, EMBASE, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Cochrane library databases and African health science library were used. All original peer-reviewed papers which reported the prevalence of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia were included in this study. Two reviewers independently extracted the data using a standardized data extraction format for eligibility and appraised their quality. Data were analyzed using Stata version 14 software. The pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis was estimated with the random-effect model. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed by I2 statistics test. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were done to assess the source of variation between the studies. Egger’s test followed by trim and fill analysis were used to determine publication bias. A sensitivity analysis was carried out.ResultA total of 952 research papers reviewed, of which, eight studies were finally included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The random effect pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia was 49.98% (CI: 36.06, 63.90). In subgroup analysis, the pooled estimated neonatal sepsis among cross-sectional studies was 53.15% while the cohort was 40.56%. Newborns with a birth weight of less than 2.5 kg were 1.42 times more likely to develop neonatal sepsis infection compared to normal babies. The odds ratios of preterm babies were 3.36 to develop neonatal sepsis compared to term infants.ConclusionThe pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia was high. Thus, health care providers should adhere to aseptic precautions while performing procedures, especially in preterm and low birth weight infants were recommended.
Highlights
Neonatal sepsis is an invasive infection, usually bacterial, and often occurring during the neonatal period (0–28 days)
Health care providers should adhere to aseptic precautions while performing procedures, especially in preterm and low birth weight infants were recommended
In the current systematic review and meta-analysis, 9032 live births were involved to estimate the pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis among newborns
Summary
Neonatal sepsis is an invasive infection, usually bacterial, and often occurring during the neonatal period (0–28 days). Neonatal sepsis causes a high burden of morbidity and mortality in developing countries like Ethiopia. There are fragmented, inconsistency, and no review has been conducted to report the magnitude and associated factors of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia. It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality for newborns. It can be categorized as early onset or late onset neonatal sepsis. Onset neonatal sepsis is associated with the acquisition of microorganisms from the mother, birth canal during delivery [1]. More than 40% of all deaths in children younger than five years of age occurred during the neonatal period [3]. The 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS) reported one in every 35 children died within the first months of life [2]
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