[Prevalence of nosocomial infections in Catalonia. I. Infections and risk factors. EPINCAT study group].

Following an extensive protocol, an investigation on the prevalence of nosocomial infections was carried out in May 1988 in 33 hospitals from Catalonia. A total number of 7434 patients were included. Communitary infections were also tabulated. The prevalence for nosocomial infections was 12.1% and the incidence of communitary infections was about 17.1%. The nosocomial more frequent infections involved the urinary tract (29.2%), the surgical procedures (25.6%), the low respiratory airways (17.3%), and the blood (4.9%). The prevalence of surgical infections ranged between 5.6% and 8.9%. Logistic adjustment showed that notorious risk factors for nosocomial infections are: urinary catheterization, central vascular catheterization, mechanical ventilation and tracheostomy, and the duration of hospital stay. For some infections the age, sex, risk of the baseline illness, and intrinsic risk factors appear to be important determinants of the risk. The study provided a large information regarding the distribution of hospital infections among the clinic departments, the differences depending on the hospital size, the distribution of the location of the infection, and the importance of the risk factors. Attention is directed to the need for appropriate surveillance systems to reduce the incidence of nosocomial infections.