Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the rates of central line...associated bloodstream infection and catheter-associated urinary tract infection in an.ßintensive care setting:.ßNational experience

Abstract

COVID-19 is believed to increase the risk of secondary healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The objective was to estimate the impact of COVID-l9 pandemic on the rates of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals across Saudi Arabia. A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected CLABSI and CAUTI data over a period of three years (2019-2021) was done. The data was obtained from the Saudi Health Electronic Surveillance Network (HESN). All adult ICUs in 78 Ministry of Health hospitals that contributed CLABSI or CAUTI data before (2019) and during (2020-2021), the pandemic were included. During the study, 1440 CLABSI events and 1119 CAUTI events were identified. CLABSI rates significantly increased in 2020-2021 compared with 2019 (2.50 versus 2.16 per 1000 central line days, p=0.010). CAUTI rates significantly decreased in 2020-2021 compared with 2019 (0.96 versus 1.54 per 1000 urinary catheter days, p<0.001). COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased CLABSI rates and reduced CAUTI rates. COVID-19 pandemic is believed to have negative impacts on several infection control practices and surveillance accuracy. The opposite impact of COVID-19 on CLABSI and CAUTI is probably reflecting the nature of case definition.