Epidemiology and control of nosocomial infections in paediatric surgery

The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology and control of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) in paediatric surgery. We reviewed 2844 hospitalized children in a paediatric surgical clinic between January 1997 and December 2000. The diagnosis of HAI was made based on criteria proposed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The incidence, type of micro-organisms and infections, age, sex, risk factors, and the economic aspects were recorded. The mortality, duration of hospitalization and economic aspects of patients were compared with 78 control patients matured for age, sex and primary illness and free of HAI. There were 78 children with HAI, the overall incidence was 2.74% (4.99% in 1997, 3.89% in 1998, 1.33% in 1999, 1.44% in 2000). The most frequent infections were surgical wound (28 patients) and urinary tract (25 patients). The most frequent risk factors were urethral catheterization (10.26%), trauma (9.25%), and parenteral nutrition (8.70%). Mean hospitalization was 16 days (range 4-28 days) in patients with infection compared with nine days (range 2-22 days) in control group. Eight patients died in the infection group, while two died in the control group. HAI caused a significant increase in mortality, prolonged hospitalization and increased costs (P < 0.05, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively).