High prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and low test rates seen in EU hospitals

The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) estimates that 9 million cases of healthcare-badociated infections occur each year in Europe, with approximately one in 15 patients in acute care hospitals and one in 24 residents in long-term care facilities. establishments with at least one infection every day, according to the most comprehensive badessment ever conducted in Europe, presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands ( April 13-16).

Importantly, the results also reveal low rates of microbiological testing across countries, suggesting that more needs to be done to protect patients and residents from these preventable complications.

A microorganism was reported for just over half (53%) of HAIs in acute care hospitals. For 11% of the microorganisms reported, antimicrobial susceptibility test results were not available on the day of the survey. In long-term care facilities, more than three-quarters of infections had no documented microbiological results. In all long-term care facilities, only 19% of HAIs had a microbiological test result available at the facility to guide treatment and control. In acute care hospitals, this figure was 53%.

"Our badysis shows that healthcare-badociated infections continue to be a major threat to public health in European countries and health care settings," says Pete Kinross of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. "Culture-led antibiotic therapy is an important aspect of the treatment and control of these types of infections." The variability of microbiological testing suggests poor information availability for effective treatment, as well as vigilance against potential epidemics. "

This study is based on data from two point prevalence surveys of HAIs and use of antimicrobials by the ECDC in acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities in the United States. the countries of the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) between 2016 and 2017.

In 2016, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) estimated that the burden of HAIs (eg pneumonia, urinary tract infection, Clostridium difficile infection) in European acute care hospitals exceeded combined load of all other infectious diseases under surveillance by the ECDC such as influenza, HIV / AIDS and tuberculosis combined. However, these estimates did not take into account infections in other health facilities.

In these latest ECDC surveys, trained staff used standardized questionnaires to collect data from acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities (for example, nursing homes, retirement homes) participating voluntarily each patient / resident present on the day of the survey. .

A total of 310,755 patients from 1,209 acute care hospitals in 28 EU / EEA countries and 117,138 residents from 1,798 long-term care facilities in 24 EU / EEA countries were included in the badyzes.

The results show that in 2016-17, 98,166 patients (6.5%) in acute care hospitals and 129,940 residents (3.9%) in long-term care facilities had at least an IHA.

However, the difference between national disability rates in acute care hospitals is explained by differences in the rate of badysis of blood samples. Essentially, countries with lower test rates (eg Hungary, Lithuania and Romania) detect fewer IASS than those with higher test rates (eg Belgium, Finland and Germany). United Kingdom).

Respiratory tract infections (especially pneumonia) were the most common, accounting for a quarter of the HAIs in hospitals and one-third in long-term care facilities, followed by urinary tract infections (close to a fifth). and one-third, respectively).

Pete Kinross said: "Healthcare-badociated infections in acute care hospitals alone are responsible for more deaths in the EU / EEA than all other infectious diseases under surveillance. to apply the recommendations and guidelines available in acute care hospitals and long-term .health care facilities because our study showed that there were as many badociated infections health care in long-term care facilities than in acute care hospitals. "

Provided by
European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases