The maternal profile revealed that a significant
percentage of the mothers are from cities in the rural parts
of the state where the study was held, which is due to the
service in the locale where the research took place being
a center of excellence in high-risk perinatal care. The
mothers’ mean age was considered ideal, as it is outside
the maternal age ranges of the child at risk at birth(15).
In relation to the variable of pre-natal consultations,
a substantial proportion of the mothers had attended less
than six consultations, below the number of six which is
stipulated by the Ministry of Health(16). One cohort study
indicated that attending less than six consultations
led to a risk ten times higher of progressing to
neonatal sepsis(17).
Among the complications during the pregnancy,
UTI was predominant. UTIs are a risk factor for neonatal
BSI, as they predispose to the ascending migration
of microorganisms to the cervix. This results in preterm
labor and birth, low birth weight NBs, premature
amniotic membrane rupture and chorioamnionitis(17).
It is known that premature rupture of membranes
(PROM) ≥18h is an important predictive factor for earlyonset
sepsis(2), which represented 14.6% of the cases, a
number within the range observed by other studies(17-18).
The data on prematurity and very low birth weight
babies (VLBWB), that is, those whose weight was
≤1500 g, endorsed previous studies, which reported
rates of sepsis inversely proportional to the weight and
to the GA(19-20). These patients present immunological
deficiencies predisposing them to have a risk of infection
which is 8 to 11 times greater, when compared to fullterm
NBs. The birth weight is a risk factor, above all