A model study done by researchers Ruchita Balasubramanian et al and published by PLOS Medicine reveals that burden posed by Hospital-associated infections (HARs) is substantial warranting a keen recognition by healthcare workers and policy makers.
The research based on point prevalence surveys (PPS) reveals that there is a wider lack of community-associated data on antibiotic-resistant infections leading to major gaps in our understanding of the number of hospital-associated drug-resistant infections (HARIs) worldwide.
“This trend is likely for multiple reasons. A lack of antibiotic stewardship and lack of personal accountability from medical personnel may lead to irrational prescribing behavior, including the unnecessary use of broad-spectrum antibiotics,” the study report read in part.
According to the research, absence of systematic surveillance systems for Hospital-associated infections (HAIs), makes HAIs a cause of morbidity and mortality around the world.
The research notes that many HAIs are caused by drug-resistant bacterial pathogens, but there are major gaps in understanding the number of hospital-associated drug-resistant infections (HARIs) worldwide.
The study estimated trends in prevalence of HARIs caused by high priority pathogens (Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter spp., Klebsiella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter spp., and Pseudomonas spp.) in 195 countries.
In the study, resistance prevalence estimates were extracted from 474-point prevalence surveys (PPS) from 99 countries published between 2010 and 2020 coupled with country-level estimates of hospitalization rates and length of stay.
Prevalence estimates were transformed in yearly incidence of HARIs per year by country and income group.
The findings estimate the global number of HARIs per year to be 136 million (95percent credible interval (CI) 26 to 246 million) per year, with the highest burden in China (52 million, 95percent to 95 million), Pakistan (10 million, 95percent CI 2 to 18 million), and India (9 million, 95 percent CI 3 to 15 million).
Indications from the study shows that middle-income countries bore the highest burden of HARIs per year (119 million, 95percent CI 23 to 215 million).
The analysis was constrained by the limited number of PPS for HARIs, lack of community- associated data on antibiotic-resistant infections, and our population level analysis.
Global Antimicrobial Resistance and use Surveillance System (GLASS) has attempted to monitor AMR in common bacteria as well as documenting human antibiotic consumption.
