ArticleArchives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition2022
Time to positivity of blood cultures in neonatal late-onset bacteraemia.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pathogenic characterization and drug resistance of neonatal sepsis in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Early risk stratification of late-onset sepsis in very preterm infants by intestinal microbiota profiling: a multicenter case-control validation study.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Infection or contamination - Clinical attribution of blood culture-positive episodes in neonatal intensive care: an 11-year retrospective single-center study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Antibiotic exposure in culture-negative preterm infants: a 10-year single-centre study.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Utility of biomarkers in VLBW sepsis evaluations: the implementation gap.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Revisiting time to blood culture positivity: can we decrease antibiotic exposure in the NICU?Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Article
- Future perspectives on the use of molecular assays for pathogen identification in neonatal sepsis: a survey study among members of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- The Clinical Utility and Stewardship Challenges of Time to Blood Culture Positivity.Hospital pharmacy · 2026Article
- Outcomes and antimicrobial usage in preterm neonates < 34 weeks gestation with culture-negative neonatal sepsis: a prospective observational study.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Observational
- Article
- Time to positive blood cultures in neonatal sepsis evaluations.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025Article
- Epidemiology and Mortality of Invasive Staphylococcus aureus Infections in Hospitalized Infants.JAMA pediatrics · 2025Article
- Microbial cell-free DNA-sequencing as an addition to conventional diagnostics in neonatal sepsis.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Time to positivity of Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus In Neonatal Blood Cultures as an adjunct tool to help discriminate between sepsis and contamination.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025Observational
- Time to positivity of blood cultures in a level IV NICU varies based on organism category and population subgroups: is a 36-hour rule out safe?Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2024Article
- [Recommendations for antibiotic use in hospitalized preterm infants with late-onset sepsis in the neonatal intensive care unit].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2024Article
- Diagnosis and Management of Neonatal Bacterial Sepsis: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Review
- Universal Digital High-Resolution Melt Analysis for the Diagnosis of Bacteremia.The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD · 2024Article
- Stop in Time: How to Reduce Unnecessary Antibiotics in Newborns with Late-Onset Sepsis in Neonatal Intensive Care.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Review
- [Clinical practice guidelines for meropenem therapy in neonatal sepsis (2024)].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the time to positivity (TTP) of blood cultures among infants with late-onset bacteraemia and predictors of TTP >36 hours.
designRetrospective cohort study.
setting16 birth centres in two healthcare systems. PATIENTS: Infants with positive blood cultures obtained >72 hours after birth. OUTCOME: The main outcome was TTP, defined as the time interval from specimen collection to when a neonatal provider was notified of culture growth. TTP analysis was restricted to the first positive culture per infant. Patient-specific and infection-specific factors were analysed for association with TTP >36 hours.
resultsOf 10 235 blood cultures obtained from 3808 infants, 1082 (10.6%) were positive. Restricting to bacterial pathogens and the first positive culture, the median TTP (25th-75th percentile) for 428 cultures was 23.5 hours (18.4-29.9); 364 (85.0%) resulted in 36 hours. Excluding coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), 275 of 294 (93.5%) cultures were flagged positive by 36 hours. In a multivariable model, CoNS isolation and antibiotic pretreatment were significantly associated with increased odds of TTP >36 hours. Projecting a 36-hour empiric duration at one site and assuming that all negative evaluations were associated with an empiric course of antibiotics, we estimated that 1164 doses of antibiotics would be avoided in 629 infants over 10 years, while delaying a subsequent antibiotic dose in 13 infants with bacteraemia.
conclusionsEmpiric antibiotic administration in late-onset infection evaluations (not targeting CoNS) can be stopped at 36 hours. Longer durations (48 hours) should be considered when there is pretreatment or antibiotic therapy is directed at CoNS.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.