title: Surveillance of hospital-acquired infections in Liguria, Italy: results from a regional prevalence study in adult and paediatric acute-care hospitals.
abstract: A multi-hospital prevalence study of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) was carried out between 19 March and 6 April 2007 in Liguria, Italy, being the first to be performed in this region. Of the 29 existing public acute hospitals, 25 took part in the investigation (86.2%). In total, 3176 patients were enrolled in the study, representing a regional average bed-occupancy rate of nearly 70%. Three-hundred and ten HAIs were diagnosed from 283 patients, with an overall prevalence of infections and cases of 9.8% and 8.9%, respectively. Prevalence varied considerably between hospitals, ranging from 0 to 24.4% [95% confidence interval (CI): 15.53-33.27]. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) (30.0%) and respiratory tract infections (RTIs) (26.1%) presented the highest relative frequency, followed by bloodstream infections (BSIs) (14.8%), surgical site infections (11.6%) and gastrointestinal infections (6.5%). Intensive care units (ICUs) and haemato-oncological units showed the highest specific prevalence of HAI, respectively 42.5% (95% CI: 34.48-50.52) and 13.3% (6.28-20.32), with RTI and BSI as the predominant infections. Spinal units (33.3%; 13.14-53.46) and functional-rehabilitation units (18.9%; 17.75-24.06) demonstrated a high rate of urinary tract infections. Uni- and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the main risk factors and conditions associated with HAI, both overall and by site. Our study provides an overall picture of the epidemiology of HAI in Liguria, which may be usefully employed as a starting point to plan and organise future surveillance and control programmes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Section of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Genoa and San Martino University Hospital of Genoa, Italy. durando@unige.it
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Durando
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Icardi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ansaldi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Crimi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sticchi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Compagnino
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fabbri
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Baldelli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bellina
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Assensi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cenderello
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Orengo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oreste
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nannini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Olivari
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Campora
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vizio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors