Background. Preterm infants with very low birth weight are at increased risk of invasive fungal infections. Preventive strategies are needed to improve their clinical course and survival.

Objectives. To assess the efficacy and safety of antifungal agents as prophylaxis in controlling invasive fungal infection and mortality in very low birth weight (VLBW) and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants in neonatal intensive care units.

Methods. We searched MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane databases, Google Scholar, Trip database, Herdin, and ClinicalTrials.gov without language restriction and publications from January 1988 to May 2021. We included randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials that compared the effect of prophylactic oral or systemic antifungal agents versus placebo in preterm infants < 37 weeks age of gestation and with birth weight lower than 1500 grams. We conducted a meta-analysis using RevMan 5.4.1 and certainty of evidence rating using GRADEpro software.

Results. A total of 14 studies (including 3,001 preterm infants with VLBW) were included. We found that prophylactic use of nystatin significantly reduced the incidence of invasive fungal infections (IFI) (pooled RR 0.16; 95% CI 0.11, 0.23; 4 RCTs, N = 1295; P < 0.00001; moderate certainty evidence) in preterm infants compared to placebo but had no significant effect on the mortality (RR 0.87; 95% CI 0.62, 1.23; 4 RCTs, N = 1295; P = 0.43; low certainty evidence). Similarly, fluconazole decreased the incidence of IFI (RR 0.38; 95% CI 0.28, 0.53; P = 0.02) and showed statistically significant reduction in mortality (RR 0.78; 95% CI 0.61, 0.99; RCTs, N = 1484; P = 0.04; high certainty evidence). The comparison of the two antifungals showed a trend favoring fluconazole, however the difference was not statistically significant in decreasing IFI (RR 1.60; 95% CI 0.68, 3.77; P = 0.28) and mortality (RR 1.62; 95% CI 0.76, 3.45; P = 0.21).

Conclusion. Administration of antifungal prophylaxis proves to be beneficial and can probably decrease invasive fungal infection and mortality. The evidence showed that Fluconazole is superior as antifungal prophylaxis compared to placebo while there is no significant difference between fluconazole and nystatin in decreasing fungal infection and mortality among preterm neonates.

Nystatin ; Fluconazole ; Prophylaxis ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight

Background and Objectives: The etiology of pneumonia in the pediatric population varies by age group. Among patients one month to 59 months old, viral pathogens are the most common cause of lower respiratory infections. The study aims to determine the frequency distribution of antibiotic prescription among patients one month to 59 months old and to determine the adherence of primary care facilities to local guidelines with recommended antibiotics. Methods: A descriptive retrospective study using electronic medical records was conducted at two primary care sites. Patients aged 1 month to 59 months old seeking consult via telemedicine or face-to-face diagnosed with community acquired pneumonia from April 2019-March 2020 in the rural facility and May 2019-April 2020 in the remote facility were included in the study. The primary outcome was to determine the patterns of antibiotic use in pneumonia in remote and rural areas and adherence to the recommended antibiotics by the 2016 Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists pediatric community-acquired pneumonia clinical practice guidelines (CPG). Results: There were 30 pediatric patients diagnosed with pneumonia in the rural facility and 213 in the remote facility. Of these patients with pneumonia, 96.7% and 94.8% were prescribed antibiotics in the rural and remote sites, respectively. The most commonly prescribed antibiotic in the rural facility was co-amoxiclav (26.7%), while amoxicillin (51.6%) was the most common in the remote facility. Adherence to the CPG in the rural site was lower at 23.3% (n=8/30) compared to the remote site which was 55.9% (n=119/213). Conclusion Primary care physicians prescribed antibiotics in over 90% of the time upon the diagnosis of pneumonia in children aged one month to 59 months old, despite viral pneumonia being the more common in primary care setting. Adherence to recommended antibiotics was higher in the remote setting than in the rural setting. Use of EMR to monitor quality of care can improve patient outcomes and safety, pointing out the importance of improving the quality of documentation in the study sites.
Pediatrics ; Pneumonia ; Primary Health Care