Study: Half of Infection Deaths Linked Directly to Hospital Care
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Sepsis and pneumonia, two infections that can often be prevented with tight infection control practices in hospitals, killed 48,000 patients and added $8.1 billion to heath care costs in 2006 alone, according to a study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers analyzed 69 million discharge records from hospitals in 40 states between 1998 and 2006; the length of stay and mortality rates for the infections didnt change substantially over time, the study found, and high infection rates persist.
The news, principal investigator Ramanan Laxminarayan tells the Health Blog, is that the study for the first time links about half of all infection deaths directly to infections acquired in the hospital in the course of care.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are 1.7 million hospital infections and 99,000 associated deaths each year, he says, those numbers dont calculate deaths caused by, rather than merely associated with infections patients get in the hospital. The CDC figures also are based on voluntary reports by hospitals, whereas the new study is based on data about patient diagnosis, hospital treatment and exposure to infections prior to hospital admission.
While in many cases sepsis and pneumonia could have […]
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