Hospital-acquired antimicrobial-resistant infections remain at least 12% above pre-pandemic levels, according to a new study from data at 120 U.S. hospitals.
Researchers analyzed trends in the incidence of AMR infections in adults across three periods: January 2018 to December 2019 (pre-pandemic); March 2020 to February 2022 (during); and March 2022 to December 2022 (after).
During the pandemic, hospital-onset resistant infections jumped 32%, and they remained 13% higher than pre-COVID-19 levels as of December 2022, researchers found.
Two more findings:
- Hospital-acquired infections resistant to carbapenems — considered the antibiotics of last resort for severe infections — increased most. They remain at least 35% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
- Hospitals with the highest levels of surges of severe COVID-19 patients saw the greatest increases in hospital-acquired antimicrobial resistant infections, "with incidence increasing in a stepwise fashion," researchers said. Hospitals with the highest bed capacity (500 beds) also had more than double the odds of these infections relative to smaller hospitals.
"While overall antimicrobial resistance levels appear to have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, the persistence of high rates of hospital-acquired AMR infections in U.S. healthcare facilities is concerning," Christina Yek, MD, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseasea and lead study author, said in a news release. "More action is needed to protect people, especially from difficult-to-treat hospital-acquired gram-negative infections that remain concerningly high."