Researchers conducted a literature review of all relevant material on hospital-acquired infections and cost from 1986 through April 2013 on PubMed, gathering infection incidence data from the Centers for Disease Control.
By a per-case analysis, the top five most expensive infections were:
- Central line-associated bloodstream infection ($45,814)
- Ventilator-associated pneumonia ($40,144)
- Surgical site infection ($20,785)
- C.diff infection ($11,285)
- Catheter-associated urinary tract infection ($896).
Annually, the five most costly infections were:
- Surgical site infections ($3.3 billion)
- Ventilator associated pneumonia ($3.1 billion)
- Central line-associated bloodstream infections ($1.85 billion)
- C.diff infections ($1.5 billion)
- Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (<$100 million)
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