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Objective: To examine the association between perinatal factors and hospitalisations for sepsis and bacterial meningitis in early childhood (from 28 days to 2 years of age).

Design: A population-based cohort study. The Swedish Medical Birth Register was combined with the National Inpatient Register, the Cause of Death Register, the Total Population Register and the Longitudinal integration database for health insurance and labour market studies. Associations between perinatal factors and hospitalisations were examined using negative binomial regression models.

Setting: Sweden.

Participants 1 406 547 children born in Sweden between 1997 and 2013.

Main outcome measures: Hospital admissions for sepsis and bacterial meningitis recorded between 28 days and 2 years of life.

Results: Gestational age was inversely associated with severe infections, that is, extreme prematurity was strongly associated with an increased risk of sepsis, adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) 10.37 (95% CI 6.78 to 15.86) and meningitis aIRR 6.22 (95% CI 2.28 to 16.94). The presence of congenital malformation was associated with sepsis aIRR 3.89 (95% CI 3.17 to 4.77) and meningitis aIRR 1.69 (95% CI 1.09 to 2.62). Moreover, children born small or large for gestational age were more likely to be hospitalised for sepsis and children exposed to maternal smoking were more likely to be hospitalised for meningitis.

Conclusions: Prematurity and several other perinatal factors were associated with an increased risk of severe infections in young children. Therefore, clinical guidelines for risk assessment of infections in young children should consider perinatal factors.