Dataset Information

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare-associated infections in intensive care unit patients: a retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

During the intensive care units' (ICUs) reorganization that was forced by the COVID-19 emergency, attention to traditional infection control measures may have been reduced. Nevertheless, evidence on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is still limited and mixed. In this study, we estimated the pandemic impact on HAI incidence and investigated the HAI type occurring in COVID-19 patients.

Methods

Patients admitted to the main ICU of the Umberto I teaching hospital of Rome from March 1st and April 4th 2020 were compared with patients hospitalized in 2019. We assessed the association of risk factors and time-to-first event through multivariable Fine and Grey's regression models, that consider the competitive risk of death on the development of HAI (Model 1) or device related-HAI (dr-HAI, Model 2) and provide estimates of the sub-distribution hazard ratio (SHR) and its associated confidence interval (CI). A subgroup analysis was performed on the 2020 cohort.

Results

Data from 104 patients were retrieved. Overall, 59 HAIs were recorded, 32 of which occurred in the COVID-19 group. Patients admitted in 2020 were found to be positively associated with both HAI and dr-HAI onset (SHR: 2.66, 95% CI 1.31-5.38, and SHR: 10.0, 95% CI 1.84-54.41, respectively). Despite being not confirmed at the multivariable analysis, a greater proportion of dr-HAIs seemed to occur in COVID-19 patients, especially ventilator-associated pneumonia, and catheter-related urinary tract infections.

Conclusions

We observed an increase in the incidence of patients with HAIs, especially dr-HAIs, mainly sustained by COVID-19 patients. A greater susceptibility of these patients to device-related infections was hypothesized, but further studies are needed.

SUBMITTER: Baccolini V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8177262 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:PurposeTo evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian intensive care unit (ICU) workers.MethodsBetween June and August 2020, we distributed a cross-sectional online survey of ICU workers evaluating the impact of the pandemic, coping strategies, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Impact of Events Scale-Revised), and psychological distress, anxiety, and depression (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale). We performed regression analyses to determine the predictors of psychological symptoms.ResultsWe analyzed responses from 455 ICU workers (80% women; 67% from Ontario; 279 nurses, 69 physicians, and 107 other healthcare professionals). Respondents felt that their job put them at great risk of exposure (60%), were concerned about transmitting COVID-19 to family members (76%), felt more stressed at work (67%), and considered leaving their job (37%). Overall, 25% had probable PTSD and 18% had minimal or greater psychological distress. Nurses were more likely to report PTSD symptoms (33%) and psychological distress (23%) than physicians (5% for both) and other health disciplines professionals (19% and 14%). Variables associated with PTSD and psychological distress included female sex (beta-coefficient [B], 1.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20 to 2.10 and B, 3.79; 95% CI, 1.79 to 5.78, respectively; P < 0.001 for differences in scores across groups) and perceived increased risk due to PPE shortage or inadequate PPE training (B, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.51 to 2.31 and B, 4.88; 95% CI, 3.34 to 6.43, respectively). Coping strategies included talking to friends/family/colleagues (80%), learning about COVID-19 (78%), and physical exercise (68%). Over half endorsed the following workplace strategies as valuable: hospital-provided scrubs, clear communication and protocols by hospitals, knowing their voice is heard, subsidized parking, and gestures of appreciation from leadership.ConclusionsThis survey study shows that ICU workers have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with high levels of stress and psychological burden. Respondents endorsed communication, protocols, and appreciation from leadership as helpful mitigating strategies.

Project description:Intensive care unit healthcare workers (ICU HCW) are at risk of mental health issues during emerging disease outbreaks. A study of ICU HCW from France revealed symptoms of anxiety and depression in 50.4% and 30.4% of workers at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic. The level of COVID-19 exposure of these ICU HCW was very high. In Canada, ICU HCW experienced variable exposure to COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic, with some hospitals seeing large numbers of patients while others saw few or none. In this study we examined the relationship between COVID-19 exposure and mental health in Canadian ICU HCW. We conducted a cross-sectional cohort study of Canadian ICU HCW in April 2020, during the acceleration phase of the first wave of the pandemic. Psychosocial distress was assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Participants were asked about sources of stress as well as about exposure to COVID-19 patients and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE). Factors associated with clinically-relevant psychosocial distress were identified. Responses were received from 310 Canadian ICU HCW affiliated with more than 30 institutions. Of these, 64.5% scored ≥ 3 points on the GHQ-12 questionnaire, indicating clinically-relevant psychosocial distress. The frequency of psychosocial distress was highest amongst registered nurses (75.7%) and lowest amongst physicians (49.4%). It was also higher amongst females (64.9%) than males (47.6%). Although PPE availability was good (> 80% of participants reported adequate availability), there was significant anxiety with respect to PPE availability, with respect to the risk of being infected with COVID-19, and with respect to the risk of transmitting COVID-19 to others. In multivariable regression analysis, Anxiety with respect to being infected with COVID-19 (OR 1.53, CI 1.31-1.81) was the strongest positive predictor of clinically-relevant psychosocial distress while the Number of shifts with COVID-19 exposure (OR 0.86, CI 0.75-0.95) was the strongest negative predictor. In summary, clinically-relevant psychosocial distress was identified amongst a majority of ICU HCW during the acceleration phase of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, including those with minimal or no exposure to COVID-19. Strategies to support mental health amongst ICU HCW are required across the entire healthcare system.

Project description:BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a global increase in healthcare-associated infections (HAI) among intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Whether this increase is directly attributable to COVID-19 or whether the pandemic indirectly (via staff shortages or breaches in infection prevention measures) led to this increase, remains unclear. The objectives of this study were to assess HAI incidence and to identify independent risk factors for HAI in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 ICU patients.MethodsWe established a monocentric prospective HAI surveillance in the medical ICU of our tertiary care center from September 1st 2021 until August 31st 2022, during circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 delta and omicron variants. We consecutively included patients ≥ 18 years of age with an ICU length of stay of > 2 calendar days. HAI were defined according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control definitions. HAI rate was calculated per 1,000 patient-days or device-days; risk ratios (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 patients were calculated. We used multivariable Cox regression to identify independent risk factors for HAI. As a proxy for institutional COVID-19 burden, weekly COVID-19 density (i.e. percentage of COVID-19 patients among all ICU patients) was included in the model as time-dependent co-variable.ResultsWe included 254 patients, 64 (25.1%) COVID-19 and 190 (74.9%) non-COVID-19 patients; 83 HAI in 72 patients were recorded, thereof 45 ventilator-associated lower respiratory tract infections (VA-LRTI) (54.2%) and 18 blood stream infections (BSI) (21.6%). HAI incidence rate was 49.1/1,000 patient-days in COVID-19 and 22.5/1,000 patient-days in non-COVID-19 patients (RR 2.2, 95%-CI 1.4-3.4). This result was mainly due to different VA-LRTI rates (40.3 vs. 11.7/1,000 ventilator days, p < 0.001), whereas BSI rates were not statistically different (9.4 vs. 5.6/1,000 patient days, p = 0.27). Multivariable analysis identified COVID-19 as main risk factor for HAI development, whereas age, mechanical ventilation and COVID-19 density were not significant.ConclusionsThese data from the fourth and fifth wave of the pandemic show a higher HAI incidence in COVID-19 than in non-COVID-19 ICU patients, mainly due to an increase in pulmonary infections. A diagnosis of COVID-19 was independently associated with HAI development, whereas institutional COVID-19 burden was not.