Prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance in acute care hospitals in Kyiv, Ukraine.

BACKGROUND

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are among the most common adverse events in patient care, and account for substantial morbidity and mortality.

AIM: To obtain the first estimates of the current prevalence of HAIs and antimicrobial resistance in acute care hospitals in Kyiv, Ukraine.

METHODS

Prospective surveillance was conducted from January 2014 to December 2016 in five acute care hospitals in Kyiv. Definitions of HAIs were adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network.

FINDINGS: Among 53,884 patients, 3753 (7%) HAIs were observed. The most frequently reported HAIs were respiratory tract infections (pneumonia 19.4%, lower respiratory tract infections 4.1%), surgical site infections (19.6%), urinary tract infections (17.5%) and bloodstream infections (10.6%). Death during hospitalization was reported in 7.2% cases of HAI. The micro-organisms most frequently isolated from HAIs were Escherichia coli (15.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (14.8%), Enterococcus spp. (10.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8.9%) and Klebsiella spp. (8.9%). Meticillin resistance was reported in 28.2% of S. aureus, and 14.2% of enterococci were resistant to vancomycin. Overall, 35.1% of all Enterobacteriaceae were resistant to third-generation cephalosporins, with the highest resistance rates seen in K. pneumoniae (53.8%) and E. coli (32.1%).

CONCLUSIONS

Infection control priorities in hospitals should include prevention of surgical site infections, pneumonia, bloodstream infections and urinary tract infections. These results may help to delineate the requirements for infection prevention and control in acute care hospitals.