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International Study of the Prevalence and Outcomes of Infection in Intensive Care Units

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has taken a one-day snapshot of the number of infected patients in ICUs worldwide — and the results are not good.

Of the tens of thousands of patients surveyed, at over a thousand hospitals, in over 75 countries, more than 50% were considered infected.

The patients who had been in the ICU the longest (prior to the study day) had higher rates of infection “especially infections due to resistant staphylococci, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas species, and Candida species”.

“The ICU mortality rate of infected patients was more than twice that of noninfected patients… as was the hospital mortality rate”.

JAMA’s conclusions? “Infections are common in patients in contemporary ICUs, and risk of infection increases with duration of ICU stay. In this large cohort, infection was independently associated with an increased risk of hospital death.”

Abstract here.

CBC coverage here.