One in 18 hospitalized patients is affected by at least one nosocomial infection (acquired in the health establishment), according to a national survey carried out every five years, which shows that this proportion has increased since 2017, especially if we include the Nosocomial Covid.
The proportion of infected patients increased significantly between 2017 and 2022 (14.7%), after stagnating from 2012 to 2017 and falling steadily between 2001 and 2012, according to this survey by Public Health France published on Friday and conducted, on a given day, with 1,155 healthcare establishments (more than 150,000 patients included) every five years.
The Covid epidemic has clearly weighed: “Hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) infections accounted for half of this increase,” Public Health France said in a statement. If we exclude these nosocomial Covids, the proportion of patients infected in 2022 remains on the rise (7.5%) but “not significantly” compared to the 2017 trend.
The agency points out in particular that “patients hospitalized in 2022 presented increased risks of infectious complications”, compared to 2017, due to more vulnerable profiles or the use of invasive care devices. Overall, nosocomial infections are still seen more often in intensive care units (nearly one in four infected patients), which care for more vulnerable patients exposed to invasive devices (catheter, respiratory assistance, urinary catheter) increasing the risks.
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Four bacteria are responsible for nearly half of nosocomial infections in hospitals, including Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as in 2017. Another lesson from the survey: around one in six hospitalized patients receives antibiotic treatment, a proportion in increase of 7.5% compared to 2017.
“These results encourage us to pursue actions to prevent healthcare-associated infections by targeting them on the most frequent infections (urinary tract infections, pneumonia, infections of the surgical site, bacteraemia), as well as to reinforce actions for the proper use of antibiotics,” according to the health agency. Health authorities estimate that some 4,200 deaths are linked to nosocomial infections each year.
