Background
Healthcare–associated infections (HAIs) are seen as a global public health threat,
leading to increased mortality and morbidity as well as costs. However, little is
currently known about the prevalence of HAIs in Pakistan. Consequently, this multicenter
prevalence survey of HAIs was conducted to assess the prevalence of HAIs in Pakistan.
Methods
We used the methodology employed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and
Control to assess the prevalence of HAIs in Punjab Province, Pakistan. Data were collected
from 13 hospitals using a structured data collection tool.
Results
Out of 1,553 hospitalized patients, 130 (8.4%) had symptoms of HAIs. The most common
HAI was surgical site infection (40.0%), followed by bloodstream infection (21.5%),
and lower respiratory tract infection (14.6%). The prevalence of HAI was higher in
private sector hospitals (25.0%) and among neonates (23.8%) and patients admitted
to intensive care units (33.3%). Patients without HAIs were admitted mainly to public
sector hospitals and adult medical and surgical wards.
Conclusions
The study found a high rate of HAIs among hospitals in Pakistan, especially surgical
site infections, bloodstream infections, and lower respiratory tract infections. This
needs to be addressed to reduce morbidity, mortality, and costs in the future, and
further research is planned.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 22, 2018
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study design was nonexperimental and involved neither patient examination nor any intervention (advised or made). Prior to conducting the study, application for ethical clearance was sought from the human ethics division of the university college of pharmacy (HEC/1000/PUCP/1925HAI). Subsequent approval to conduct the study in the identified hospitals was obtained from hospital management. All collected data were anonymized during the time of data collection and verified for accuracy before transmission to the investigators by the data collectors at the health facility.
Identification
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© 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
