One in 18 hospitalized patients is affected by at least one nosocomial infection, an infection acquired in a health facility, according to a national survey carried out every five years. The study, published this Friday by Public Health France, shows that this proportion has increased since 2017, especially if we include nosocomial Covid.
In fact, the proportion of infected patients increased by 14.7% between 2017 and 2022, after stagnating from 2012 to 2017 and falling steadily between 2001 and 2012.
The survey is carried out, on a given day, among 1,155 health establishments (more than 150,000 patients included) every five years.
The Covid epidemic has clearly weighed heavily. “Nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) infections accounted for half of this increase,” Public Health France stressed in a press release.
Most vulnerable profiles
If we exclude these nosocomial Covid, the proportion of infected patients in 2022 continues to rise (+7.5%) but “not significantly” compared to the 2017 trend.
The agency notes in particular that “patients hospitalized in 2022 had higher risks of infectious complications,” compared to 2017, due to more vulnerable profiles or the use of invasive care devices.
In general, nosocomial infections are still more frequently seen in intensive care units (nearly one in four infected patients), which care for more vulnerable patients exposed to invasive devices (catheter, respiratory support, urinary catheter), which increases the risks.
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 receive antibiotic treatment, a growing proportion 7.5% compared to 2017 .
“These results encourage us to continue with actions to prevent infections associated with health care, focusing on the most frequent infections (urinary tract infections, pneumonia, surgical site infections, bacteraemia), as well as to reinforce actions for the proper use of antibiotics. ”, according to the health agency.
The health authorities estimate that each year some 4,200 people die from nosocomial infections.
Source: BFM TV
