Abstract
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major worldwide public-health problem, but less data are available on the long-term trends of HAIs and antimicrobial use in Eastern China. This study describes the prevalence and long-term trends of HAIs and antimicrobial use in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Hefei, Anhui, China from 2010 to 2017 based on annual point-prevalence surveys. A total of 12 505 inpatients were included; 600 HAIs were recorded in 533 patients, with an overall prevalence of 4.26% and a frequency of 4.80%. No evidence was found for an increasing or decreasing trend in prevalence of HAI over 8 years (trend χ2 = 2.15, P = 0.143). However, significant differences in prevalence of HAI were evident between the surveys (χ2 = 21.14, P < 0.001). The intensive care unit had the highest frequency of HAIs (24.36%) and respiratory tract infections accounted for 62.50% of all cases; Escherichia coli was the most common pathogen (16.67%). A 44.13% prevalence of antimicrobial use with a gradually decreasing trend over time was recorded. More attention should be paid to potential high-risk clinical departments and HAI types with further enhancement of rational antimicrobial use.
Highlights
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have become a major public-health problem around the world, being associated with increased morbidity, hospital stay, long-term disability, antimicrobial resistance and healthcare costs [1, 2]
Surveillance data published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) underline the fact that therapeutic options are becoming increasingly limited in several countries with high levels of multidrug resistance [11]
Other infection sites each accounted for
Summary
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have become a major public-health problem around the world, being associated with increased morbidity, hospital stay, long-term disability, antimicrobial resistance and healthcare costs [1, 2]. Prevalence surveys are important methods for evaluating infection control efforts and have been widely used to determine the range of HAIs and antimicrobial use in hospitals. A recent multistate point-prevalence survey in the USA reported a rate of 4.0% HAIs among inpatients in acute care hospitals [3], and rates of 4%–9% have been recorded in similar European surveys [4,5,6,7]. Inappropriate use of antimicrobials has often been noted to be an important contributing factor for the increase of HAIs, those associated with resistant strains caused by overuse of antimicrobial drugs [10]. It is important to understand the status and reasons of antimicrobial use for accurate intervention
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