Clinical impact of healthcare-associated infections in Brazilian ICUs: a multicenter prospective cohort.

Background: Limited data is available to evaluate the burden of device associated healthcare infections (HAI) [central line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), and ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP)] in low and-middle-income countries. Our aim is to investigate the population attributable mortality fraction and the absolute mortality difference of HAI in a broad population of critically ill patients from Brazil.

Methods: Multicenter cohort study from September 2019 to December 2023 with prospective individual patient data collection. VAP, CLABSI, and CAUTI were diagnosed by each center in accordance with Brazilian regulatory agency guidance. If a patient fulfilled all diagnostic criteria, he was deemed to have Confirmed HAI. An adjusted disability multistate model was used to evaluate the population attributable in-hospital mortality fraction (PAF) and the absolute in-hospital mortality difference (AMD).

Results: A total of 128,247 patients were included. 4066 (3.2%) distinct patients had at least one diagnosis of HAI (1493 CLABSI, 433 CAUTI, 2742 VAP, and 435 patients with more than one HAI) during the ICU stay. The PAF was 3.89% (95% CI 3.68-4.11%) for HAI, 2.16% (2.05-2.33%) for VAP, 1.2% (1.08-1.32%) for CLABSI, 0.11% (0.07-0.16%) for CAUTI, and 0.33% (0.26-0.4%) for ≥ 2 HAI. The AMD for HAI was 33.69% (95% CI 32.27-35.33%), 29.01% (27.15-30.98%) for VAP, 31.64% (29.3-34.81%) for CLABSI, 9.94% (3.88-15.54%) for CAUTI and 35.6% (28.93-42.99%) for ≥ 2 HAI.

Conclusions: Device-associated HAI significantly contribute to hospital mortality and impose a high excess risk of death for critically ill patients.