Prevalence of health care associated infections in a tertiary care hospital in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka: A hospital based cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: Health Care-Associated Infections (HCAI) affect millions of people each year and raise a great risk for patients in health care settings, leading to high rates of morbidity and mortality. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of HCAI and to explore the association between certain socio-demographic factors, invasive procedures and mean duration of hospital stay with HCAI in a tertiary-care hospital. Materials and Methods: Data was obtained from the patients who were admitted for more than 48 hours in the general wards and their records in tertiary-care hospital for duration of 3 months (February 2014 to April 2014). Results: Among 290 patients, the prevalence of HCAI was estimated to be 11.7%. The prevalence of HCAI was proportionately less among men (10.2%) than in women (14.2%), was more (15.6%) among patients who underwent invasive procedures after admission and with mean duration of hospital stay of 12.47 days. Conclusion: Health Care- Associated Infections (HCAIs) were found to be significantly associated with increased duration of hospital stay and invasive procedures done after admission. Prevalence was higher in patients aged more than 40 years.