Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are a serious issue in Spain, causing around 6,774 deaths each year. This figure is more than three times the number of fatalities from car accidents. A recent study in Eurosurveillance examined the impact of HAIs on hospitalized patients, revealing some alarming statistics.
The study involved over 107,000 patients from 2022 to 2023. It found that about 8% of these patients developed an HAI during their hospital stay. Patients with HAIs faced a much higher risk of death: 11% of them died within thirty days, compared to just 5.7% of those without infections. In simpler terms, if you get an infection while in the hospital, your chance of dying is about 70% greater than if you remain infection-free.
Interestingly, the study noted that 41% of deaths among HAI patients were due directly to the infection. Overall, HAIs accounted for 3.2% of deaths across all hospitalized patients.
The most common types of HAIs were respiratory infections, surgical site infections, and urinary tract infections, comprising 26%, 22%, and 18% of cases, respectively. Particularly worrying were the deaths linked to pneumonia and bloodstream infections, which significantly increased the odds of death.
Experts believe that many HAIs can be prevented. At least half of these infections could be avoided with better infection-control practices. The authors of the study point out that even though HAIs aren’t officially listed as a cause of death, their impact is on par with major health issues, like breast cancer.
In Spain, there’s a pressing need for improved measures to stop these infections. Implementing and adhering to better protocols could potentially save thousands of lives.
For further reading on HAIs and their implications, check out this report from the World Health Organization on the global burden of healthcare-associated infections.
