American Academy of Pediatrics – Section on Perinatal Pediatrics
View all recommendations from this societyJuly 20, 2015
Avoid routine continuation of antibiotic therapy beyond 48 hours for initially asymptomatic infants without evidence of bacterial infection.
There is insufficient evidence to support antibiotic treatment for more than 48 hours to rule out bacterial infection in asymptomatic term and preterm infants. Current blood culturing systems identify the great majority of pathologic organisms prior to 48 hours. Prolonged antibiotic use may be associated with necrotizing enterocolitis and death in extremely low birthweight infants.
These items are provided solely for informational purposes and are not intended as a substitute for consultation with a medical professional. Patients with any specific questions about the items on this list or their individual situation should consult their physician.
How The List Was Created
The American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Perinatal Pediatrics (SoPPe) Executive Committee employed a national survey of representative newborn medicine providers from SoPPe and the Vermont-Oxford Network. Survey recipients were asked to consider the range of testing and treatments conducted on high and low risk newborns. They were then asked them to provide examples of tests and treatments that, in their opinion, best met any or all of the following criteria: there is evidence of lack of efficacy, there is insufficient evidence of efficacy, or the test or treatment unnecessarily utilized staffing or material resources. Among the recipients, 1047 responded with a total of 2870 suggestions of tests and treatments. These responses were then collated and presented to an expert panel of 51 individuals representing 28 national and regional stakeholder perinatal care organizations. A modified Delphi process utilizing electronic survey techniques was used to narrow the list to the Top 5 over three rounds. During the initial round, the panel reduced the top 22 general categories of tests and treatments to 13. The reintroduction of specific clinical contexts, derived from the original survey, resulted in 24 items that were reduced to 12 in the second round. In the final round, the panel was provided with GRADE (Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) literature summaries of the top 12 to ensure that all current evidence was considered. The final list was reviewed and approved by the Academy’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee.
AAP’s disclosure and conflict of interest policy can be found at www.aap.org.
Sources
Cotten CM, Smith PB. Duration of empirical antibiotic therapy for infants suspected of early-onset sepsis. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2013 Apr;25(2):167-71.
Cotten CM, Taylor S, Stoll B, Goldberg RN, Hansen NI, Sánchez PJ, Ambalavanan N, Benjamin DK Jr; NICHD Neonatal Research Network. Prolonged duration of initial empirical antibiotic treatment is associated with increased rates of necrotizing enterocolitis and death for extremely low birth weight infants. Pediatrics. 2009 Jan;123(1):58-66.
Garcia-Prats JA, Cooper TR, Schneider VF, Stager CE, Hansen TN. Rapid detection of microorganisms in blood cultures of newborn infants utilizing an automated blood culture system. Pediatrics. 2000 Mar;105(3 Pt 1):523-7.
