The Prevalence of Nosocomial Infections in the Eastern Mediterranean: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Evidence-based information on the prevalence of nosocomial infections (NIs) and the determination of influencing factors can play a key role in developing effective infection control activities in healthcare settings, particularly in the East Mediterranean Region (EMR). This study aimed to determine the prevalence of NIs in the EMR.

A comprehensive search of electronic databases-including EMBASE, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science-was done between 2000 and 2021. To estimate the pooled prevalence of NIs in the EMR, a random-effects model was used to measure the effect size with a 95% confidence interval (CI). All analyses were done using a comprehensive meta-analysis.

The prevalence of NI in hospital settings was reported to be 13% (95% CI, 0.1-0.16). The highest rate of nosocomial infection was related to wound infection at 39% (95% CI, 0.23-0.58), followed by bloodstream infection at 32% (95% CI, 0.27-0.38). Among the common organisms that infected patients, E. coli was the cause of 16% (95% CI; 0.13-0.2) of NIs followed by Coagulase-negative staphylococci with the prevalence of 15% (95% CI, 0.11-0.19), Acinetobacter at 15% (95% CI, 0.13-0.18) and Staphylococcus at 13%. Study results also revealed a significant relationship between the prevalence of NI, age, and hospital length of stay (P < 0.05).

Study results mentioned NI as a widespread challenge in the EMR, which mainly affects elderly patients with complicated clinical symptoms that need long-term hospital stay. To resolve the issue, early detection of infected individuals could improve the quality of response toward the infection.