Abstract:
Objective：To observe the early clinical characteristics of nosocomial infection in premature infants.
Methods：A total of 354 patients, who were hospitalized within 24 h of birth, stayed in the hospital for ＞48 h and had not experienced prenatal bacterial infection, were selected. The clinical symptoms of early infection (within 24 h) were analyzed based on hematology, highsensitivity reactive protein and calcitonin tests. Based on the presence or absence of nosocomial infection, patients were divided into the infection group including 206 patients and the non-infection group including 148 patients. Taking the 16 factors, including pyrexia, apnoea, and jaundice, as suspicious early clinical characteristics, the early clinical characteristics were determined using Chi-square test and multivariate stepwise logistic regression.
Results：Nine clinical manifestations, including apnoea, gastric retention, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, vomiting, abdominal distension, pyrexia, body temperature failing to rise, and jaundice, were assessed as correlated with the early clinical characteristics; further multivariate logistic regression identified apnoea（OR=0.288，95%CI 0.065~0.795） and increased heart rate （OR=0.068，95% CI 0.027~0.168） as the early clinical characteristics of nosocomial infection in premature infants.
Conclusion：Increased heart rate and apnoea are the most common and earliest clinical manifestations of nosocomial infection in premature infants.

Key words: Nosocomial infection, Infant,, premature, Pyrexia, Diarrhea, Apnoea