Introduction:

The newborn undergoing a surgery is exposed to the development of infections. The serum lactate has been recommended as a diagnostic criterion of sepsis.

Objective:

To determine the magnitude of association of the value of serum lactate with sepsis in the newborn undergoing a surgery.

Methods:

Study conducted from 2013 to 2016 in "William Soler" Pediatric Teaching Hospital, to 307 newborns whom underwent surgery. The variables were grouped in: clinical (gestational age, birth weight, cause of surgical intervention, location of the infection) and paraclinical (causative microorganisms, serum lactate). The partial Pearson's test of linear correlation was applied and it was estimated the odds ratio with the control of the variable infection (yes and no) to identify correlation between serum lactate values in the preoperative and postoperative results.

Results:

Of the newborns, 63 were under weight (20.52%) and 55 were preterm infants (17.92%). In the infected newborns, 20.83% were operated due to digestive conditions (n= 35); systemic infections reached 67.74% (n= 42), caused in 45.24% by Candida sp. The rate of change of the values of serum lactate in infected subjects (p= 0.001) meant that for each unit in mmol/L in which increased the preoperative lactate, the postoperative increased 0.489 mmol/L; and these changes were due in a 16.9 % to the values of preoperative lactate.

Conclusions:

The serum lactate is associated to the infection in newborns that underwent surgery and is a useful biomarker of sepsis in neonatal intensive care.

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