Background: Previously, we found that plasma protein C (PC) activity ≤10% significantly increased the probability of the occurrence of death during neonatal sepsis. Accordingly, if the activity of plasma PC declined during the course of sepsis to ≤10%, we administered a nonactivated PC zymogen to increase a PC activity. The aim of that retrospective analysis was to explore treatment effects of PC zymogen supplementation in septic infants, with plasma PC activity ≤10%.
Methods: A database was used to locate 85 newborns treated with PC from among 458 analyzed infants with confirmed sepsis.
Results: The median birth weight and gestational age of treated infants were, respectively, 1010.0 g and 29 weeks. In 47 infants, early-onset sepsis developed, whereas in 38 neonates, late-onset sepsis was recognized. PC was given as a single dose of 200 IU/kg. Among 458 septic patients, death occurred in 19 newborns (4.2%), exclusively in infants with plasma PC activity ≤10%. In 15 infants, death occurred in the course of early-onset sepsis and 4 newborns died of late-onset sepsis (early-onset sepsis vs. late-onset sepsis; P = 0.036; χ with the Yates correction).
Conclusions: An increased risk of death in septic neonates with plasma PC activity ≤10% suggests the necessity for its evaluation and possibility of supplementation of PC zymogen.