Abstract
From a random sample of patients and hospitals and extrapolation ratios derived from the best available sources of data, the authors estimate that the nationwide nosocomial infection rate among the 6,449 acute-care US hospitals in 1975ndash;1976 was 5.7 nosocomial infections per 100 admissions and that over 2 million nosocomial infections occurred in a 12-month period in these hospitals. Nosocomial urinary tract infections constituted 42% of the infections, surgical wound infections 24%, nosocomial pneumonia 10%, nosocomial bacteremia 5%, and nosocomial infections at all other sites 19%. If adjustments are made for the accuracy of the diagnostic method, the increasing nationwide secular trend, and the number of nosocomial infections in nursing homes, however, as many as 4 million nosocomial infections per year may now be occurring. This greatly exceeds previous estimates and calls for timely and accurate vital statistics on the problem.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 159-167 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | American Journal of Epidemiology |
Volume | 121 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1985 |
Keywords
- Cross infection
- Health policy
- Health services research
- Health surveys
- Hospitals
- Sampling studies
- Vital statistics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology