Not much is known about the link between healthcare-associated infections and hospital-onset sepsis in pediatric patients, according to a study published in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
To examine this connection, researchers conducted a retrospective observational study of patients age 21 or younger with a confirmed HAI incident between February 2012 and July 2013. They collected demographic, clinical and infection characteristics of the patients who developed sepsis or septic shock within two days of HAI identification using registries and health records.
All total, the researchers identified 501 patients with HAIs. Here are five study findings:
1. Of the patients with HAIs, 479 were labeled as HAI only and 22 patients (4.4 percent) were labeled as HAI-sepsis
2. Roughly half of all patients had more than one complex condition
3. Frequently, patients with HAI-sepsis were more likely to be in the intensive care unit than those in the HAI-only group
4. The most common cause of infection among HAI-sepsis patients and HAI-only patients was bacterial pathogens (77 percent and 63 percent, respectively). However, HAI-sepsis patients were also more likely to have central nervous system infections than HAI-only patients
5. Patients with HAI-sepsis experienced longer post-HAI hospital lengths of stay (26 days versus 14 days) and increased 30-day mortality than HAI-only patients
According to the study authors, "HAIs and hospital-onset sepsis continue to be important targets for pediatric quality improvement and patient safety initiatives."
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