OBJECTIVE To understand the epidemiological characteristics of hospital-acquired infections among elderly hospitalized patients in a tertiary hospital from 2017 to 2023.
METHODS Clinical data of hospitalized patients aged 60 and above were collected from Shengjing Hospital affiliated to China Medical University from 2017 to 2023 and were analyzed to summarize the epidemiological characteristics.
RESULTS From 2017 to 2023, a total of 469 362 elderly hospitalized patients were monitored, 5 196 cases were infected with an infection rate of 1.11%. The rate of hospital-acquired infections of elderly was higher than that of all hospitalized patients (P < 0.001), the rate in men was higher than women (P < 0.001), the rate of elderly patients aged ≥ 75 years old was higher than that of patients aged < 75 years old (P < 0.001). The rate of hospital-acquired infections among elderly hospitalized patients fluctuated from quarter to quarter, but generally showed a decreasing trend, from 1.80% to 0.73% (P < 0.001). The departments with infection rate of over 2% in elderly hospitalized patients were intensive care unit (9.70%), geriatric medicine comprehensive ward (3.66%), nephrology ward (3.04%), neurosurgery ward (3.43%), hematology ward (2.33%), general surgery ward (2.30%) and infectious liver disease ward (2.29%). The top five sites of hospital-acquired infections in elderly hospitalized patients are lower respiratory tract infections (25.72%), upper respiratory tract infections (18.48%), bacteremia (14.37%), organ cavity infections (11.45%) and urinary tract infections (10.68%). A total of 3 647 strains of pathogenic bacteria were isolated from hospitalized elderly patients, including 2 195 strains of gram negative bacteria accounting for 60.19%, 919 strains of gram positive bacteria accounting for 25.20% and 446 strains of fungi accounting for 12.23%. The top five pathogenic bacteria were Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecium.
CONCLUSIONS The hospital-acquired infection rates among hospitalized elderly patients in different quarters from 2017 to 2023 was fluctuating, but the overall trend was decreasing year by year. The departments with higher hospital-acquired infection rates among elderly hospitalized patients are intensive care units, geriatric medicine comprehensive wards, and neurosurgery wards, the most common infection sites are lower respiratory tract infections upper respiratory tract infections and bacteremia. Gram-negative bacteria are the main pathogens.
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