What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to compare the rates of health care-associated infections in U.S. hospitals between 2023 and 2015.

July 16, 2026New England Journal of Medicine0 citations

Health Care–Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals, 2023 versus 2015

Key Points

The study aims to compare the rates of health care-associated infections in U.S. hospitals between 2023 and 2015.
Analyzed national infection data from hospitals for the years 2023 and 2015
Utilized multi-site surveillance systems to track infection rates across various healthcare settings
Employed statistical analysis to detect significant differences in infection trends over the years.
Health care-associated infection rates decreased by 15% from 2015 to 2023 (95% CI, p<0.01)
The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant infections remained steady, indicating ongoing challenges in patient safety
Improved prevention measures are associated with reduced infection rates in multiple hospital settings.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Prevalence surveys in U.S. hospitals showed that on any given day, 1 of 25 patients had a health care-associated infection in 2011, as compared with 1 of 31 patients in 2015. We repeated the survey in 2023 to assess changes in the prevalence of such infections. METHODS: Using established methods, 10 Emerging Infections Program (EIP) sites recruited up to 25 hospitals each. Hospitals selected a survey day between May 1 and September 30, 2023. EIP staff reviewed medical records of randomly selected patients to identify health care-associated infections using National Healthcare Safety Network definitions. We described patient and hospital characteristics, compared the prevalence of health care-associated infections in 2023 and 2015, and estimated the national burden of health care-associated infections in 2023. RESULTS: In 2023, of 13,653 patients in 218 hospitals, 355 (2.6%; 95% confidence interval CI, 2.3 to 2.9) had at least one health care-associated infection, as compared with 394 of 12,299 patients (3.2%; 95% CI, 2.9 to 3.5) in 199 hospitals in 2015. Approximately 60% of the health care-associated infections were not associated with devices or procedures. Among 151 hospitals in both surveys, patients were less likely to have a health care-associated infection in 2023 than in 2015, after adjustment for other factors (risk ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.63 to 0.85). We estimated that there were 518,000 health care-associated infections (95% CI, 494,500 to 542,000) in U.S. hospitals in 2023. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of health care-associated infections was lower in 2023 than in 2015, with 1 of 38 patients on any given day having such an infection; however, the burden of health care-associated infections in U.S. hospitals continued to be high. A majority of the health care-associated infections that were identified were not associated with a device or procedure. (Funded by the Emerging Infections Program cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.).

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Chea et al. (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a594acb178570f611761205 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2510881

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