The rate of hospital-associated infections in critically ill children in the U.S. fell dramatically from 2007 to 2012, according to research published in Pediatrics.
Researchers examined the rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia and catheter-associated urinary tract infections from 173 NICUs and 64 PICUs in hospitals that reported data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network.
They found that critically ill children are now safer in hospitals than they were in 2007. For example, CLABSI rates decreased in NICUs from 4.9 to 1.5 per 1,000 central-line days and in PICUs from 4.7 to 1. Additionally, the rate of VAP decreased in NICUs from 1.6 to 0.6 per 1,000 ventilator days and from 1.9 to 0.7 in PICUs. There was no significant change in CAUTIs in PICUs, however.
"The bottom line is it's safer to have a hospitalized child today than it was five years ago," Stephen Patrick, MD, MPH, the study's lead author, told the Associated Press.