Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Department of Infectious Diseases, The Alfred and Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2022 May 13;11(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s13756-022-01109-8.
Healthcare associated infections are of significant burden in Australia and globally. Previous estimates in Australia have relied on single-site studies, or combinations thereof, which have suggested the burden of these infections is high in Australia. Here, we estimate the burden of five healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in Australian public hospitals using a standard international framework, and compare these estimates to those observed in Europe.
We used data from an Australian point prevalence survey to estimate the burden of HAIs amongst adults in Australian public hospitals using an incidence-based approach, introduced by the ECDC Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe.
We estimate that 170,574 HAIs occur in adults admitted to public hospitals in Australia annually, resulting in 7583 deaths. Hospital acquired pneumonia is the most frequent HAI, followed by surgical site infections, and urinary tract infections. We find that blood stream infections contribute a small percentage of HAIs, but contribute the highest number of deaths (3207), more than twice that of the second largest, while pneumonia has the higher impact on years lived with disability.
This study is the first time the national burden of HAIs has been estimated for Australia from point prevalence data collected using validated surveillance definitions. Per-capita, estimates are similar to that observed in Europe, but with significantly higher occurrences of bloodstream infections and healthcare-associated pneumonia, primarily amongst women. Overall, the estimated burden is high and highlights the need for continued investment in HAI prevention.
医疗保健相关感染在澳大利亚和全球造成了重大负担。澳大利亚以前的估计数依赖于单点研究或其组合，这些研究表明这些感染在澳大利亚的负担很高。在这里，我们使用标准的国际框架估算了澳大利亚公立医院中五种医疗保健相关感染（HAI）的负担，并将这些估计值与欧洲观察到的情况进行了比较。
我们使用澳大利亚一项点患病率调查的数据，采用欧洲疾病预防控制中心传染病负担（ECDC）提出的基于发病率的方法，估算了澳大利亚公立医院成人 HAI 的负担。
我们估计每年有 170574 例成人在澳大利亚公立医院发生 HAI，导致 7583 人死亡。医院获得性肺炎是最常见的 HAI，其次是手术部位感染和尿路感染。我们发现血流感染虽然占 HAI 的比例很小，但导致的死亡人数（3207 人）却是最高的，是第二大感染的两倍多，而肺炎对残疾生活年数的影响更大。
这项研究是首次使用经过验证的监测定义从点患病率数据估算澳大利亚全国 HAI 负担。人均估算值与欧洲观察到的情况相似，但血流感染和与医疗保健相关的肺炎发生率明显更高，主要发生在女性中。总体而言，估计的负担很高，这突显了需要继续投资于 HAI 预防。
