Objectives: Relationships among Early Onset Neutropenia (EON), i.e. neutropenia in the first week of life, treated with Filgrastim, and subsequent colonization by Candida spp. with eventual systemic fungal infection in ELBW patients are not clear. We tried to analyze these features in a retrospective study on a selected population of a large tertiary NICU.
Methods: By a database search, we identified a group of VLBW patients who were diagnosed a systemic fungal infection (SFI) during their stay in NICU (n=52), and divided them in two subgroups: those who had presented Early Onset Neutropenia (EON) and thus had been treated with a 3-day course of Filgrastim (n=14)(group A), and those who had not presented EON and thus had not undergone Filgrastim therapy (n=38) (group B). We investigated in both subgroups the following variables: neutrophil count monitoring during the first 2 weeks of life, colonization by Candida spp, day of onset of SFI, outcome. Statistical analysis was performed by Chi-square test, ANOVA and T-test using SPSS 8.0 for Windows.
Results: Absolute neutrophil number was obviously lower in group A at recruitment (354/mmc vs 2910\mmc, Chi-square = 9.776, p <0.005), but became normal at the end of G-CSF treatment, thus detecting no significant differences between the two groups at day 8 (p<0.12) and 14 (p<0.34). The onset of SFI occurred significantly earlier ( 9.6 dol vs 14.6 dol., p<0.004) in group A neonates. Fungal Colonization rate in the 2nd week of life was significantly higher in previously neutropenic patients (71% vs. 37%, p< 0.005), who had also a significantly higher number of sites involved (p<0.003).
Conclusions: Neutropenia in the first days of life in VLBW neonates, even if adequately and succesfully treated, heavily influences rates and severity of colonization by fungal spp., and is associated with an earlier onset of a SFI.