3-Day versus 5-Day Course of Intravenous Antibiotics for Suspected Early Onset XXXX : A Randomized Controlled Trial.

@entity1 @entity154 @entity295 @entity4509 @entity281 @entity1763 @entity869 @entity1851
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to compare the treatment failure of suspected early onset @entity295 with either 3-day or 5-day course of empirical antibiotic therapy. METHODS: @entity1 with birth weight over 1500 g and/or gestational age over 34 weeks within 7 days postnatal age with clinical symptoms of @entity295 received empirical antibiotics ( @entity869 + @entity4509 ) in two neonatal intensive care units. After 72 hours if the result of blood culture was negative and symptoms resolved they were randomly allocated to 3-day or 5-day groups. The main outcome was treatment failure which was defined as reappearance of symptoms of @entity295 within two weeks after discontinuation of antibiotics. @entity1 with @entity154 , @entity281 , @entity1763 , those undergoing surgery or when serum @entity1851 levels remained abnormal despite treatment, were not included. Randomization was accomplished with simple randomization procedure. FINDINGS: Sixty @entity1 were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either group. Baseline characteristics were similar between two groups. The follow-up period was 2 weeks with no lost to follow-up. One @entity1 in 3-day group had treatment failure compared with no treatment failure in 5-day group (P=0.5). No serious harm was observed due to our empirical antibiotic regimen. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicated no evidence that treatment failure differs between 3-day and 5-day course antibiotic therapy for suspected early onset @entity295 in late preterm and term newborns.
