In case of suspected sepsis in newborns, the child receives treatment with antibiotics. Despite the incidence of sepsis in newborns decreasing, antibiotic treatment continues to be unjustifiably high, the study shows.
”Antibiotics are vital to give to newborns with sepsis, if you have a sicker population it is reasonable that the use is higher, but we must increase awareness of the overuse of antibiotics and become better at distinguishing infected children from non-infected”, says Johan Gyllensvärd, pediatrician and doctoral student at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, in a press release.
In the study, which is based on data on over one million children born in Sweden between 2012 and 2020, they have looked at what antibiotic use looks like in six major regions of the country.
”The threshold for initiating antibiotics varies, which can be partly explained by how high the incidence is, but also by what is ingrained in the culture and tradition of the different hospitals”, says Johan Gyllensvärd.
Prescription of antibiotics to newborns
TT
Percentage of newborns who received antibiotics during the first week of life
Southern Sweden: 1.7 percent
South-eastern Sweden: 2.1 percent
Eastern Sweden: 1.3 percent
Western Sweden: 3.0 percent
Central Sweden: 1.6 percent
Northern Sweden: 2.2 percent
Sources: University of Gothenburg, Medical Birth Register, Neonatal Care Register
