Access- and non-access-related infections among patients receiving haemodialysis: Experience of an academic centre in Oman.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiology of access and non-access-related infections in patients receiving haemodialysis at an academic tertiary hospital in Oman.

METHODS

This was a retrospective observational study of 287 hospitalized patients who received haemodialysis during the period January 2018 to December 2019 at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman.

RESULTS

A total of 202 different infections were documented in 142 of the 287 patients (49.5%). Pneumonia was the most common infection in the patients examined, accounting for 24.8% (50/202) of the total infections. This was followed by bloodstream infections, with a prevalence of 19.8% (40/202). was the most prevalent isolate (19.0%; 47/248). The highest number of multidrug-resistant infections were caused by multidrug-resistant (29.9%; 23/77).

CONCLUSIONS

Infections in patients undergoing haemodialysis are common and are dominated by non-access-related infections. Pneumonia was found to be the most prevalent infection in this population. Gram-negative bacteria, predominantly , were the most prevalent isolates. The study reported an alarming number of multidrug-resistant organisms, accounting for 31.0% of the total bacterial isolates from various clinical specimens.