NeoDeco Study

The NeoIPC study, NeoDeco, is a cluster randomised controlled study aiming to evaluate if the implementation of optimised kangaroo care can reduce severe neonatal infection, sepsis and resistant bacterial colonisation in high-risk newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Sponsored by Penta, NeoDeco involves very preterm infants (born before 32 weeks’ gestation) admitted to participating NICUs.

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Who participates in the study?

24 neonatal units in Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom

Study activities

Throughout the intervention period, sites in the intervention arm will: 

  • Apply optimised kangaroo care to all high-risk newborns for whom it’s clinically suitable 
  • Receive tailored support for the implementation of optimised kangaroo care, aimed at overcoming obstacles to effective implementation

Sites in the control arm will: 

  • Continue to apply standard kangaroo care, consistent with their current practices in the NICU
  • Not receive any form of implementation support

All sites will:

  • Perform continuous surveillance of hospital-acquired infections, using the NeoIPC surveillance system
  • Conduct weekly colonisation assessments through the collection of stool samples and data collection in REDCap

Expected Outcomes

If NeoDeco proves successful, NeoIPC could present a simple, safe and low-cost intervention to protect newborns from being colonised by resistant bacteria found in the hospital environment, which can cause severe neonatal infection and sepsis.

Establishing optimised kangaroo care as an effective infection prevention and control measure could also decrease the overall use of antibiotics across the NICU, therefore reducing the challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance in neonatal care.