Neonatal Sepsis among Neonates at Public Hospitals in Jimma, Ethiopia

Background Neonatal sepsis is one of the major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality globally. Its incidence varies from 1 to 4 cases per 1,000 live births in developed countries. The burden of the problem occurs in the developing world while most confirmation is derived from developed countries. This study is aimed to assess the prevalence of neonatal sepsis and associated factors among newborns admitted in neonatal intensive care units. Materials and Methods An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted in two hospitals in Jimma town, Ethiopia, 2019. Sampling was taken consecutively to select the study participants. Face to face interview with the mothers and document review was used to collect data by using a structured questionnaire. The data was checked for completeness, coded, cleaned and entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Binary and multivariable logistic regression was used to understand association between dependent and independent variables. P-value <0.05 at 95% CI, or (for interpretation of results) was declared a statistically significant association. Results This study found that 52.6% of the neonates had neonatal sepsis during admission. Among these, 39.8% were early onset of neonatal sepsis and 12.8% were late onset of neonatal sepsis. Factors such as maternal Urinary tract infection, maternal fever, chorioamnionitis, and age of neonates (0-7 days), male sex and resuscitation at birth were significantly associated to neonatal sepsis. Conclusion This study identified that rate of neonatal sepsis was high and maternal related factors were significant predictors of neonatal sepsis. Therefore, health professionals should work on risk factors associated with sepsis to decrease its prevalence and other complications.