title: Gender differences in outcomes of low birth weight and preterm neonates: the male disadvantage.
abstract: Various studies conducted worldwide have shown that male neonates have higher rates of mortality and morbidity in the perinatal period compared with females. However, there has been only one study from India on this subject. Therefore, this study was conducted to establish the difference in mortality between males and females among neonates born with two established risk factors of septicaemia--low birth weight (<2.5 kg) and preterm birth (<37 weeks). One hundred and fifty consecutive neonates which were either preterm or had low birth weight were recruited after obtaining informed consent from the parents. Blood culture was done, and the bacterial isolates were identified by standard protocol. Statistically significant association was found between male gender and mortality among culture-positive neonates. Therefore, results of the present study indicate that preterm or low birth weight male neonates have higher likelihood of mortality compared with their female counterparts in the Indian scenario.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India and Department of Pediatrics, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India priyamvadaroy@yahoo.in.
authors.forename: Priyamvada
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India and Department of Pediatrics, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India.
authors.forename: Ashwani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India and Department of Pediatrics, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India.
authors.forename: Iqbal Rajinder
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India and Department of Pediatrics, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110095, India.
authors.forename: Mohammad M A
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Faridi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000097:blood*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: low birth weight; male; mortality; neonate; preterm