Antibiotic Use in Term and Near-Term Newborns.

OBJECTIVES We aimed to study whether national and local antibiotic stewardship projects have reduced the antibiotic use in newborns and to monitor potential changes in adverse outcomes. METHODS In a nationwide, population-based study from Norway, we included all hospital live births from 34 weeks' gestation (n = 282 046) during 2015 to 2019. The primary outcome was the proportion of newborns treated with antibiotics from 0 to 28 days after birth. The secondary outcomes were the overall duration of antibiotic treatment and by categories: culture-positive sepsis, clinical sepsis, and no sepsis. RESULTS A total of 7365 (2.6%) newborns received intravenous antibiotics during the period, with a reduction from 3.1% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2019 (30% decrease; P 72 hours of life, and sepsis-attributable deaths remained at a low level. CONCLUSIONS During the study period, a substantial decrease in the proportion of newborns treated with antibiotics was observed together with a decline in treatment duration for newborns without culture-positive sepsis.