Infections are biggest killer for intensive care patients
DANGER: Antibiotics losing battle
Saturday December 05 2009
Infection is the biggest single cause of death in hospital intensive care units, according to a new worldwide study which included four major Irish hospitals.
About half of the patients in ICUs were suffering from infections which increased their risk of death.
The death rate for infected patients in intensive care was more than twice that of non-infected patients -- 25pc compared to 11pc.
The study of ICUs in 75 countries, which included Tallaght and the Mater hospitals in Dublin, Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway, found that infection was the leading cause of death in non-cardiac intensive care units.
It looked at 13,796 patients in the units on a single day and found that 51pc were infected. Lung infections were most common, affecting two in every three of these patients
One in five had stomach bugs, 15pc had infections in the bloodstream and 14pc in the kidneys and genito-urinary system.
The longer patients stayed in intensive care, the more likely they were to develop infections such as MRSA and candida says the study which is published in the December issue of the Journal Of The American Medical Association.
Infection rates rose from 32pc for patients staying just one day to more than 70pc of patients who stayed more than seven days.
Treatment
Researchers concluded that infection in ICUs is a common problem and the information gained in the study could help provide pointers for international guidelines for diagnosis and treatment.
Antibiotics should be limited to patients who show clear evidence of infection, says Dr Steven Opal and Dr Thierry Calandra,in an editorial published with the study.
It is "critical" they stress, to discontinue antibiotics when "their possible benefits have been obtained".
"New drugs are needed to replace the increasingly obsolete classes of antibiotics that currently exist.
"A 'post-antibiotic era' is difficult to contemplate but might become a reality unless the threat of progressive antibiotic resistance is taken seriously," the report says.
csheehy@herald.ie
- Clodagh Sheehy
