Preventing early-onset group B streptococcal sepsis: clinical risk factor-based screening or culture-based screening?
- Author:
Jiun LEE
1
;
Krishnamoorthy NAIDUVAJE
1
;
Ka Lip CHEW
2
;
Natasha CHARAN
1
;
Yiong Huak CHAN
3
;
Raymond Tzer-Pin LIN
4
;
Eu Leong YONG
5
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords: group B streptococcal; neonatal; prevention; screening
- From:Singapore medical journal 2021;62(1):34-38
- CountrySingapore
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
INTRODUCTION:Two strategies are available for prevention of early-onset group B streptococcal (GBS) sepsis - clinical risk factor-based screening and routine culture-based screening of pregnant women for GBS colonisation. In our hospital, we switched from the former to the latter approach in 2014.
METHODS:We compared the incidence of early-onset GBS sepsis during 2001-2015 between infants born to pregnant women who were screened for GBS colonisation and those born to women who were not screened.
RESULTS:Among 41,143 live births, there were nine cases of early-onset GBS sepsis. All infants with GBS sepsis were born to pregnant women who were not screened for GBS colonisation. The incidence of early-onset GBS sepsis among infants of women who were not screened was 0.41 per 1,000 live births (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.19-0.77) when compared to infants of women who were screened, for whom the sepsis incidence was zero per 1,000 live births (95% CI 0-0.19; p = 0.005).
CONCLUSION:Our data suggests that routine culture-based screening of pregnant women for GBS colonisation is a better preventive strategy for early-onset GBS sepsis in neonates when compared to clinical risk factor-based screening.
