Research Advances in the Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis

Neonatal sepsis is one of the most common diseases in newborns, which can lead to multi-system damage. Delayed treatment may result in severe complications, while excessive use of antibiotics can increase bacterial resistance and adversely affect long-term outcomes. Therefore, accurate diagnosis of neonatal sepsis is critical for neonatologists. However, the clinical manifestations of neonatal sepsis are often non-specific, and blood culture—the gold standard for diagnosis—has limitations such as prolonged turnaround time and low positivity rates. Overreliance on blood culture may delay diagnosis and treatment. In clinical practice, we often combine other biomarkers to diagnose, including: White blood cell count (WBC), Neutrophil count, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), serum amyloid A (SAA), interleukins (ILs) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). This review aims to summarize the laboratory indicators relevant to the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.