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Active surveillance of hospital-acquired infections in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: a single center study
Insights
Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) affected 6.4% of pediatric ICU patients. Central venous catheters and intubation were significant risk factors, highlighting the need for infection control.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) epidemiology
- Infectious disease surveillance
- Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)
Background:
- Patients in intensive care settings face elevated risks of HAIs.
- Underlying health conditions and the use of invasive devices contribute to HAI vulnerability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the incidence, causes, and risk factors of HAIs in a pediatric intensive care unit (ICU).
- To analyze specific types of HAIs prevalent in this vulnerable patient population.
Main Methods:
- A six-month surveillance study involving 267 pediatric ICU patients (1570 patient-days).
- Utilized the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) HAI-Net ICU v2.2 protocol for data collection.
Main Results:
- The incidence of HAI was 6.4% (10.8 infections per 1000 patient-days).
- Catheter-related bloodstream infections (33%) and intubation-associated pneumonia (25%) were most common.
- Key risk factors included central venous catheters, intubation, high Pediatric Index of Mortality scores, and prior colonization.
Conclusions:
- Active surveillance effectively identified previously unreported HAI cases.
- This surveillance approach proved to be a valuable tool for enhancing infection control strategies in the pediatric ICU.
Objective:
The aim of our study was to describe and analyze HAI incidence, etiology and risk factors in pediatric intensive care unit (ICU).
Background:
Intensive care patients are at high risk of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) due to their underlying diseases and exposure to invasive devices.
Methods:
The study group consisted of patients admitted to children's hospital ICU for more than 2 days during a six-month period (267 patients, 1570 patient-days). We used the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control standard protocol HAI-Net ICU v2.2 for data collection.
Results:
HAI occurred in 17 (6.4%) included patients (10.8 infections per 1000 patient-days). The most frequent were catheter-related bloodstream infections (33%, 7.6 per 1000 catheter-days) and intubation-associated pneumonia (25%, 10.9 per 1000 intubation-days). Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella spp.) were identified as the most common etiological agents. Significantly higher risk of HAI had patients with central venous catheter (OR: 14.5, 95% CI 3.2-65.1), intubated (OR: 14.4, 95% CI 4.4-46.2), with Pediatric Index of Mortality score higher than 10 (OR: 17, 95% CI 2.7-111.5) and with previous bacterial or/ and fungal colonization (OR: 30.6, 95% CI 9.2-101.3).
Conclusions:
Active surveillance identified unreported HAI cases and proved to be an effective tool of infection control.
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