A national point prevalence study on healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in Austria

The first point prevalence survey performed in Austria had the aim to assess the magnitude of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobials use in the country.

A multicentre study was carried out from May until June 2012 in nine acute care hospitals with a mean bed number of 620. Data from 4321 patients' clinical charts were reviewed.

The overall healthcare-associated infections prevalence was 6.2% (268/4321) with the highest rate in intensive care departments (20.9%; 49/234). In medical and surgical departments the healthcare-associated infections prevalence was 5.4% (95/1745) and 6.6% (105/1586), respectively. The most frequent healthcare-associated infections were: urinary tract infections (21.3%; 61/287), pneumonia (20.6%; 59/287) and surgical site infections (17.4%; 50/287). The most common isolated microorganisms were: Escherichia coli (14.8%; 26/176), Enterococcus species (13.1%; 23/176) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.4%; 20/176). Thirty-three per cent (1425/4321) of the patients received antimicrobials because of community-acquired infections treatment (14.2%; 615/4321), healthcare-associated infections treatment (6.4%; 278/4321), and surgical (8.2%; 354/4321) and medical prophylaxis (3.2%; 138/4321). Surgical prophylaxis was the indication for 22.0% (394/1792) of the overall prescriptions and was prolonged for more than 1 day in 77.2% (304/394) of the cases.

The national Austrian survey proved the feasibility of a nation-wide network of surveillance of both healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use that will be repeated in the future. Healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use have been confirmed to be a grave health problem. The excessive prolongation of perioperative prophylaxis in Austria needs to be limited.