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The following is a summary of “Economic burden of nosocomial infections for hospitals: evidence from Germany,” published in the November 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Asegu et al.
Nosocomial infection (NI) is a rising public health concern, as it leads to increased mortality, reduced QoL, and long hospital stays and imposes substantial economic burdens on healthcare systems due to extended hospitalizations and resource utilization.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to estimate the opportunity costs associated with NIs in a German hospital, considering factors like hospital stays, daily revenue, and occupancy rates (OCR).
They analyzed cost data from a German hospital’s surgical and orthopedic units (2018-2019) for the “HygArzt” project and used the genetic match to estimate differences in length of stay (LOS) and daily revenue between patients with NI and non-NI via linear regression. Finally, they calculated the hospital’s opportunity cost of treating patients with NI instead of non-NI, with all expenses reported in 2018 Euros.
The results showed that 81 patients with NI were matched with 207 patients with non-NI. Most NIs (77.0%) had surgical site infection (SSIs). The patients with NI had longer LOS (10 days, P < 0.001) and lower daily revenue (€400, P < 0.001) compared to non-NI, comorbidities and operation frequency influenced LOS. Preventing 30-50% of NIs could reduce LOS by 3-5 days and increase daily revenue by €120-€200 per day prevented NI, which could free up 3-5 bed-days, leading to potential savings exceeding €1,000 per prevented case.
They concluded that nosocomial infections (NIs) placed a significant economic burden on hospitals, with strong economic incentives to implement infection control measures, including the involvement of a prevention link physician/nurse.
Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-024-10176-8
