Cost evaluation of infections in intensive care

The study deals with one aspect of cost benefit analysis of infection control, namely the measurement of extra costs incured by patients who acquired nosocomial infections (NI) in intensive care units (ICU). The consequences of NI are expressed in terms of length of stay, extra drug and antibiotic costs, extra sterile supply used and mortality. Infected patients stayed at the ICU twice as long as non - infected patients, the mean cost of antibiotics prescribed was four times higher, the mean value of other drugs and infusion fluids was approximately 1 1/2 times higher. Three methods for measuring cost are compared: the physician's assessment method, comparison of infected patients with all non - infected patients and matched control analysis.