Sustained quality improvement in outcomes of preterm neonates with a gestational age less than 29 weeks: results from the Evidence-based Practice for Improving Quality Phase 3 .

Quality improvement initiatives in neonatology have yielded positive results; however, few programs have demonstrated sustainability. We evaluated an ongoing, national quality improvement initiative (Evidence-based Practice for Improving Quality Phase 3 (EPIQ-3)) on outcomes of preterm neonates with a gestational age (GA) of 22-28 weeks (i.e.

Association Between Antibiotic Use and Neonatal Mortality and Morbidities in Very Low-Birth-Weight Infants Without Culture-Proven Sepsis or Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

Importance: Excessive antibiotic use has been associated with altered bacterial colonization and may result in antibiotic resistance, fungemia, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), and mortality. Exploring the association between antibiotic exposure and neonatal outcomes other than infection-related morbidities may provide insight on the importance of rational antibiotic use, especially in the setting of culture-negative neonatal sepsis.

Objective: To evaluate the trend of antibiotic use among all hospitalized very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants across Canada and the association between antibiotic use rates (AURs) and mortality and morbidity among neonates without culture-proven sepsis or NEC.

The neonatal gut harbours distinct bifidobacterial strains.

Background: Recent studies have described the bifidobacterial composition of neonates at a species level; however, with advancing technologies we can gain insight into the diversity of the bifidobacterial microbiota residing within the infant gut.

Objective: To compare species and strain diversity of culturable bifidobacterial populations in faecal samples obtained from healthy term infants on three different feeding regimes.

Study Design: In total, 51 healthy term infants were recruited for this study and divided equally into three different groups (n=17) based on their feeding regime during the first 4 weeks of life.

Association between admission temperature and mortality and major morbidity in preterm infants born at fewer than 33 weeks' gestation.

Importance: Neonatal hypothermia has been associated with higher mortality and morbidity; therefore, thermal control following delivery is an essential part of neonatal care. Identifying the ideal body temperature in preterm neonates in the first few hours of life may be helpful to reduce the risk for adverse outcomes.

Objectives: To examine the association between admission temperature and neonatal outcomes and estimate the admission temperature associated with lowest rates of adverse outcomes in preterm infants born at fewer than 33 weeks' gestation.