Frequency of Healthcare-Associated Infections in the Elderly Patient Hospitalized

Healthcare- Associated Infections (HAI) are known to be one of the most important health issues in developed and developing countries. The most common infections include central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia and surgical site infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of nosocomial infections in the elderly patients.

In this cross-sectional study, 1279 patients were 60 years of age or older. Patients who had been admitted for more than 48 hours in the hospital and had no signs of infection at the time of admission, were entered into the study. It was evaluated four most common HAI, according to CDC include bacteremia, central line-associated blood stream infections, urinary tract infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Infections may also occur at surgery sites, known as surgical site infections. The Chi-square and T- test or analysis of variance was used for data analysis.

Of the total patients, 93 (7.3%) developed HAI at duration admission. The highest rate of infection was bacteremia, which was 48.4 % and then urinary tract infection 21.5%. The prevalence of HAI among patients with cardiovascular diseases was relatively higher than underlying diseases. The frequency of length of hospital stay was significant in patients > 7 days with 68.8% in the HAI group.

Our findings showed that patients with cardiovascular, renal and pulmonary disease are more susceptible to HAIs. Due to the increased length of hospital stay increases the risk of infection, it is recommended to discharge patients as soon as possible.