The Polish Prevalence of Infection in Intensive Care (PPIC): A one-day point prevalence multicenter study

Infections in critically ill patients are the main reasons for a lack of therapeutic success and increased mortality in intensive care units (ICUs). There have been many analyses of the incidence of infections in ICUs; however, no large studies of this kind have been conducted either in Poland or in Eastern and Central Europe.

The aim of the research was to undertake a one-day study of the prevalence of infections in ICUs in Warszawa and the Mazovian region of Poland.

A prospective questionnaire survey analysis - a one-day prevalence study of infections - was carried out on June 25, 2014, in 28 ICUs in Poland.

Among 205 ICU patients (193 adults and 12 children), 134 infections were found in 101 patients (99/193 adults (51.30%) and 2/12 children (16.70%)), and bacterial colonization in 19/205 (9.3%) patients. In 66.42% of the cases, more than 1 site of infection was diagnosed. On the day of the study, 75.40% of the diagnosed infections had positive microbiological results. The most frequent were respiratory tract infections (53.73%), wound infections (18.65%) and bloodstream infections (14.92%). Most of the infections (64.10%) were caused by Gram-negative bacteria (GN), followed by Gram-positive bacteria (GP; 31.80%) and fungi (4.10%). The most frequently reported GN microorganisms were Enterobacteriaceae (44.7%). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections were found in 8.80% of the patients. Antibiotics were administered to 75.60% of the adult patients, in 69.20% as targeted treatment. Mechanical ventilation, central vein catheterization and urinary bladder catheterization were used in 67.80%, 85.85% and 94.63% of the patients, respectively.

On the day of the study, more than half of the patients had infections, mostly from GN bacteria. Respiratory tract infections were the main type found. In about 2/3 of the patients, antibiotics were administered, mainly as targeted therapy.