Comparative evaluation of health care-related infections in pediatric and newborn intensive care units in a university hospital: The seven-year retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction: In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the incidence, density and reciprocal relationships of Health Care Associated Infections (HCAIs) detected in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Bursa Uludag University Faculty of Medicine Hospital as a general perspective.Materials and Methods: In this study, data of 91 PICU and 158 NICU patients who developed HCAIs between 2012-2018 years, taking into account the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2015 and the Turkish National Hospital Infections Surveillance Network (UHESA) 2017, were retrospectively analyzed.Results: The HCAIs rate was higher in NICU (9.6% vs 14.9%; respectively, p <0.001), but the infection density was lower (9.9 versus 7.8/1000 patient days, p=0.061). Stay of length for all patients in NICU was found to be longer (19.1 days vs 9.7 days; p <0.001), and the median length of stay with HCAIs in PICU and in NICU was 41.5 days versus 49 days respectively (p=0.1). The median time of HCAIs diagnosis was 17 days in PICU vs 15 days in NICU, p=0.6). In NICU, according to birth weight, HCAIs rates and infection densities were 7.8% and 2.7/1000 patient-days in <750 g patients; 23.2% and 6.2/1000 patient-days in 751-1000 g patients, 6.1% and 4.9 patient-days in 1001-1500 g patients, 44.7% and 9.2/1000 patient-days in 1501-2500 g patients, and %24.6 and 13.8/1000 patient-days in >2501 g patients. HCAIs rates were found to be higher in babies with >1501 g.Conclusions: There may be differences in the rates and prevention strategies in PICU and NICU and continuous and high quality maintenance is important for infection control measures.