Abstract
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) occurring in patients treated in an intensive care unit (ICU) are serious complications in the treatment process. Aetiological factors of these infections can have an impact on treatment effects, treatment duration and mortality. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and microbiological profile of HAIs in patients hospitalized in an ICU over a span of 10 years. The active surveillance method was used to detect HAIs in adult patients who spent over 48 h in a general ICU ward located in southern Poland between 2007 and 2016. The study was conducted in compliance with the methodology recommended by the Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Network (HAI-Net) of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). During the 10 years of the study, 1849 patients hospitalized in an ICU for a total of 17,599 days acquired 510 with overall HAIs rates of 27.6% and 29.0% infections per 1000 ICU days. Intubation-associated pneumonia (IAP) posed the greatest risk (15.2 per 1000 ventilator days), followed by CLA-BSI (8.0 per 1000 catheter days) and CA-UTI (3.0 per 1000 catheter days). The most common isolated microorganism was Acinetobacter baumannii (25%) followed by Coagulaase-negativ staphylococci (15%), Escherichia coli (9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (7%), Candida albicans (6%). Acinetobacter baumannii in 87% and were classified as extensive-drug resistant (XDR). In summary, in ICU patients pneumonia and bloodstream infections were the most frequently found. Acinetobacter baumannii strains were most often isolated from clinical materials taken from HAI patients and showed resistance to many groups of antibiotics. A trend of increasing resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii to carbapenems was observed.
Highlights
According to multiple sources, between 20% and 50% of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) occur in the intensive care unit (ICU)
The results of the analysis demonstrated below are among few such studies in Poland and can be used as a reference to the actual epidemiological situation prevailing in ICU units of other hospitals in Poland, Europe or other continents
The average age of patients hospitalized in the ICU was 58
Summary
Between 20% and 50% of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) occur in the intensive care unit (ICU). In 2007, 39% of patients in European countries were affected by these infections [1]. In Poland HAIs were detected in 24–45% of ICU patients [2,3]. Meta-analysis of HAIs showed that a HAIs affected 30% of patients [4]. In Italy frequency of HAIs was lower (16%) [5]. These infections presented in the most dangerous and sometimes life-threatening forms of
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