Abstract—Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome in the first months of infant life due to a systemic response caused by the presence of pathogenic microorganisms or their products in the blood. Sepsis promotes the unbalanced production of oxidant and anti-oxidant substances, causing an excess of free oxygen radicals. Early markers of neonatal sepsis have been studied in recent years, and we proposed another parameter to detect early-onset neonatal sepsis with salivary antioxidative index (SAOI), saliva has been shown as blood representatives and to have many benefits. This study was conducted in April - June 2012, saliva specimens were taken from 57 newborns, in which 32 infants were at risk of sepsis and 25 infants were healthy and served as a control group. Data was analyzed by Mann-Whitney test. We concluded that sepsis possibility 3,7 fold when there are low AOI. This parameter may be used as another marker to detect early-onset neonatal sepsis.

Index Terms—Early-onset neonatal sepsis, free oxygen radicals, salivary antioxidative index

Cite: Ari Yunanto, Rizky Taufan Firdaus, Triawanti, and Eko Suhartono, "Salivary Antioxidative Index in Newborns at Risk of Sepsis as Novel Parameter for Early-Onset Neonatal Sepsis", Journal of Medical and Bioengineering, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 63-66, March 2014. Doi: 10.12720/jomb.3.1.63-66