Chairs:

Eleanor Molloy, Ireland & Eric Giannoni, Switzerland

Main theme:

EBN infection pre-congress course. Neonatal sepsis

Course description:

This course will provide state of the art presentations from experts in the field of neonatal sepsis. The course will cover practical clinical aspects of the care of newborns with sepsis such as diagnosis, management and multiorgan evaluation and outcome. It will also include an update on pre-clinical studies.

Course objectives:

• To provide an update on clinical diagnosis in neonatal sepsis.
• To provide an update on management and outcome in neonatal sepsis
• To present an update on current pre-clinical studies and potential future therapeutics in neonatal sepsis.

Definition of possible course participants/target group:

This course is targeted towards paediatricians, neonatologists and advanced nurse practitioners.

Course programme:

10:00-10:20 Neonatal sepsis: diagnosis – Helmut Küster, Germany 
10:20-10:30 Discussion
10:30-10:50 Preclinical studies neonatal sepsis – Irwin Reiss, Netherlands 
10:50-11:00 Discussion
11:00-11:20 Early management of sepsis including antimicrobials – Sinno Simons, Netherlands 
11:20-11:30 Discussion
11:30-11:50 Neonatal sepsis and cardiovascular management – Willem de Boode, Netherlands 
11:50-12:00 Discussion
12:00-13:00 Lunch break
13:00-13:20 Effects of neonatal sepsis on the brain and neurodevelopment – Eleanor Molloy, Ireland 
13:20-13:30 Discussion
13:30-13:50 Chorioamnionitis and neonatal sepsis – Tobias Strunk, Australia 
13:50-14:00 Discussion
14:00-14:20 Future therapeutics – Eric Giannoni, Switzerland
14:20-14:30 Discussion
14:30-15:00 Open discussion / Closing remarks

Faculty:

Eleanor Molloy, Prof of Paediatrics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Eric Giannoni, Professor, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland
Sinno Simons, Assoc Professor, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands
Irwin Reiss, Professor, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands
Helmut Küster, Professor, University of Goettingen, Germany
Willem de Boode, Professor, Radboudumc, Amalia Children’s Hospital, The Netherlands
Tobias Strunk, Professor, University of Perth Australia

Chairs:

Eleanor Molloy, Ireland & Eric Giannoni, Switzerland

Main theme:

EBN infection pre-congress course. Neonatal sepsis

Course description:

This course will provide state of the art presentations from experts in the field of neonatal sepsis. The course will cover practical clinical aspects of the care of newborns with sepsis such as diagnosis, management and multiorgan evaluation and outcome. It will also include an update on pre-clinical studies.

Course objectives:

• To provide an update on clinical diagnosis in neonatal sepsis.
• To provide an update on management and outcome in neonatal sepsis
• To present an update on current pre-clinical studies and potential future therapeutics in neonatal sepsis.

Definition of possible course participants/target group:

This course is targeted towards paediatricians, neonatologists and advanced nurse practitioners.

Course programme:

10:00-10:20 Neonatal sepsis: diagnosis – Helmut Küster, Germany 
10:20-10:30 Discussion
10:30-10:50 Preclinical studies neonatal sepsis – Irwin Reiss, Netherlands 
10:50-11:00 Discussion
11:00-11:20 Early management of sepsis including antimicrobials – Sinno Simons, Netherlands 
11:20-11:30 Discussion
11:30-11:50 Neonatal sepsis and cardiovascular management – Willem de Boode, Netherlands 
11:50-12:00 Discussion
12:00-13:00 Lunch break
13:00-13:20 Effects of neonatal sepsis on the brain and neurodevelopment – Eleanor Molloy, Ireland 
13:20-13:30 Discussion
13:30-13:50 Chorioamnionitis and neonatal sepsis – Tobias Strunk, Australia 
13:50-14:00 Discussion
14:00-14:20 Future therapeutics – James Wynn, USA
14:20-14:30 Discussion
14:30-15:00 Open discussion / Closing remarks

Faculty:

Eleanor Molloy, Prof of Paediatrics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Eric Giannoni, Professor, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland
Sinno Simons, Assoc Professor, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands
Irwin Reiss, Professor, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands
Helmut Küster, Professor, University of Goettingen, Germany
Willem de Boode, Professor, Radboudumc, Amalia Children’s Hospital, The Netherlands
Tobias Strunk, Professor, University of Perth Australia
James Wynn, University of Florida, USA

Main theme:

Causal inference in epidemiology

Course description:

We are all accustomed to the ever-present caveat in epidemiological studies: “association is not causation”. Yet, causal inference is a central goal of many of our studies: Does a specific medical treatment work? Did a health policy improve health? Did changes in a unit’s protocol lead to more evidence-based care and better outcomes? Does air pollution increase risks of preterm birth? Many such questions cannot easily be answered using randomised controlled trials, necessitating observational approaches. Recently, epidemiologists have called for making causal objectives explicit because this can improve the way we formulate our research questions and our choices about study design and statistical methods. In this light, this course reviews the concept of causality in epidemiological research and the methods for designing and analysing studies to improve causal inference.

Course objectives:

• To provide an overview of the challenges of determining causality in epidemiological research and the epidemiologist’s tool kit for causal inference.
• To introduce study design approaches and analytic methods for improving causal inference in observational research through applied examples.

Lectures will provide a conceptual and theoretical overview and then use a study from the published neonatology and paediatric literature to illustrate how the methods are applied. A recommended reading list and the studies to be presented in the lectures will be provided to the attendees when they register.

Definition of possible course participants/target group:

This course is targeted to clinicians with a broad range of skill levels in epidemiology.

Course programme:

9:00-9:15 Welcome and introductions – Jennifer Zeitlin, France 
9:15-11:00 Causal inference in epidemiology: review of concepts and methods – Jeremy Lebrecque, Netherlands 
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-12:30 Study designs for better causal inference: quasi-experimental studies – Jasper Been, Netherlands 
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-14:30 Analysis methods for better causal inference: propensity scores and instrumental variables – Jennifer Zeitlin, France 
14:30-15:30 Inferring causality in studies of the environment and child health – Johanna Lepeule, France 
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-17:00 Wrap-up of main points, questions and discussion

Faculty:

Jeremy Lebrecque, Researcher, Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Jasper V. Been, Neonatologist, Associate Professor in Perinatal Public Health The Netherlands
Jennifer Zeitlin, Research Director, Obstetrical, Perinatal and Pediatric Epidemiology Research Team, Inserm (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research), France
Johanna Lepeule, Research Scientist, Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Development and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Inserm, Grenoble, France