NEC incidence and severity, sepsis incidence, and baseline data in the pre-probiotics vs routine probiotics epochs
| Factor | Pre-probiotics epoch n=469 | Routine probiotics epoch n=513 |
| NEC diagnostic system | ||
| Modified Bell’s ≥2a | 35 (7.5%) | 16 (3.1%) |
| Vermont-Oxford | 30 (6.4%) | 15 (2.9%) |
| Battersby et al | 37 (7.9%) | 19 (3.7%) |
| NEC severity | ||
| Modified Bell’s 2a or 2b | 6 (1.3%) | 2 (0.4%) |
| Modified Bell’s 3a or 3b | 29 (6.2%) | 14 (2.7%) |
| Surgical NEC | 30 (6.4%) | 15 (2.9%) |
| Drains only | 4 | 1 |
| Laparotomy±drain | 20 | 13 |
| Died before laparotomy | 6 | 1 |
| Postnatal age at NEC diagnosis (days) | 12 (6–21) | 18 (11–30) |
| Postmenstrual age at NEC diagnosis (weeks) | 27 (26–29) | 28 (26–31) |
| Mortality before discharge among NEC cases | 16 (46%) | 3 (19%) |
| Spontaneous intestinal perforation | 2 (0.4%) | 6 (1.1%) |
| Sepsis | ||
| Early onset sepsis | 10 (1.1%) | 1 (0.2%) |
| Late-onset sepsis | 106 (22.6%) | 59 (11.5%) |
| Responsible isolates* | ||
| CoNS | 87 (18.6%) | 47 (9.2%) |
| Gram-negative | 19 (4.1%) | 6 (1.2%) |
| Enterococcus | 11 (2.3%) | 2 (0.4%) |
| Other organism | 15 (3.2%) | 6 (1.2%) |
| Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium sepsis | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Sex, female | 225 (48%) | 261 (51%) |
| Mode of delivery | ||
| Vaginal | 193 (42%) | 229 (45%) |
| Caesarean | 271 (58%) | 284 (55%) |
| PROM | ||
| No | 306 (65%) | 347 (68%) |
| Yes | 103 (22%) | 118 (23%) |
| Not recorded | 60 (13%) | 48 (9%) |
| NSAID treatment for PDA | ||
| None | 421 (90%) | 487 (95%) |
| Indometacin | 37 (8%) | 0 (0%) |
| Ibuprofen | 11 (2%) | 26 (5%) |
| Birth weight (g) | 1100 (810–1410) | 1100 (832–1430) |
| Gestational age (weeks) | 28 (26–30) | 28 (26–31) |
| SGA | 114 (24%) | 132 (26%) |
| Antenatal steroids | 405 (87%) | 447 (88%) |
| Received initial antibiotics† | 502/599 (83.8%) | 509/597 (85.6%) |
| Days to first enteral feed | 2 (1–4) | 2 (2–3) |
| Enteral feeding‡ | ||
| Never fed | 34 (7%) | 32 (6%) |
| Mother’s own breast milk only | 198 (42%) | 322 (63%) |
| Donor breast milk only | 0 (0%) | 9 (2%) |
| Preterm formula only | 50 (11%) | 23 (4%) |
| Mixed (formula and any breast milk) | 186 (40%) | 127 (25%) |
Data are median (IQR) or number (%).
*For individual infants who had at least one such sepsis episode.
†Data presented are for all babies born at <32 weeks’ gestation within the epochs who received initial empirical antibiotics (benzylpenicillin and gentamicin) following admission to NICU.
‡Mode of milk feeding between first feed and full feeds or NEC/death if earlier.
PDA, patent ductus arteriosus; CoNS, coagulase-negative staphylococci;NEC, necrotising enterocolitis; NICU, neonatal intensive care unit; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PROM, prolonged rupture of membranes;SGA, small for gestational age.