Incidence of colonization of preterm neonates’ gastric aspirate and its correlation with neonatal, maternal and environmental risk factors

Background: Infants born with Very Low Birth Weight (< 1500 grams) and Extremely Low Birth Weight (< 1000 grams) are at a high risk of pre-discharge morbidities. Aim of our study was to know the incidence of colonization of the preterm neonates’ gastric aspirate and to co-relate it with the various neonatal, maternal and environmental risk factors. Material and Methods: This was a prospective, observational study in 100 neonates conducted over a period of two years at Pediatrics Department of a teaching hospital of Western Gujarat region. All pre-term newborns who did not have any clinical features for sepsis were included in the study. Results: In our study, most common organisms isolated were enterococcus (41%) followed by bacteroids (26%) and staphylococcus (14%) in 24 hours & 72 hours of gastric aspirate sample. Lower gestation age and low birth weight were significantly associated with colonization of the preterm neonatal gut (p