Clinical epidemiological profile of neonates with infections associated with health care in specialist hospital

Abstract

Introduction. Infections associated with health care are frequent in Neonatal Intensive Care Units, they are of epidemiological importance because they are associated with an increase in neonatal morbidity and mortality, long hospital stays and high health costs. Objective. To describe the clinical-epidemiological profile of newborns admitted to the National Hospital for Women “Dra. María Isabel Rodríguez”, with a diagnosis of infection associated with health care, during 2015-2019. Methodology. Descriptive cross-sectional study was developed in the Neonatology services of the National Women’s Hospital. The data were obtained from the VIGEPES 07 forms and clinical records of 2055 patients, from January 2015 to December 2019. Results. In total, 2,055 patients with healthcare-associated infections were identified, of which 51,2 % occurred in children. The most affected were premature infants between 28 and 36 weeks (72 %) and neonates weighing 1,000 g – 2,499 g (69,1 %). The most frequent infections were urinary tract infection (48,9 %), septicemia/bacteremia (24,2 %), healthcare-associated pneumonia (12,5 %), and mechanical ventilation-associated pneumonia (1,6 %). Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most frequently isolated microorganism, followed by Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The incidence of healthcare-associated infections was higher in 2019 (25,6 %). The case fatality due to infections associated with health care was higher in 2018 (15,8 %). Conclusions. The neonates with health care-associated infection were the premature ones with low birth weight. The microorganism mostly found was Klebsiella pneumoniae