tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Antimicrob Resist Infect Control
. 2025 Apr 11;14(1):28.
doi: 10.1186/s13756-025-01543-4. Associations between hospital structure, infection control and incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections: a 10-year surveillance study
Costa Salachas[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Quentin Le Hingrat[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Skerdi Haviari[SUP] 1 4 [/SUP], Audrey Valdes[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Vincent Mackiewicz[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Isabelle Lolom[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Nadhira Fidouh[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Benoît Visseaux[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Donia Bouzid[SUP] 1 6 [/SUP], Diane Descamps[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Jean-Christophe Lucet[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Charlotte Charpentier[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Solen Kernéis[SUP] 7 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Background: Protecting patients from hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections is a major challenge, but the hierarchy of measures to achieve this is not yet completely clear.
Aim: To describe the epidemiology of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections and associations with structural hospital factors and adherence to infection control protocols.
Methods: Retrospective cohort study conducted over 10 consecutive years (2014-2023) within 27 hospital wards in a 900-bed university hospital in Paris, France. All hospitalized adult patients who were tested for at least one virus on a respiratory sample during their stay were included. Structural factors (percentage of double occupancy rooms) and adherence to infection control protocols by healthcare workers (measured by consumption of alcohol-based hand sanitizer and of facemasks) were included as predictors in the model.
Main outcome and measure: Incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections, defined by a positive PCR test for at least one respiratory virus, performed at least 5 days after hospital admission. Data were analyzed on ward-year aggregated data, with a linear mixed-effects model.
Findings: Overall, 183 994 viral PCR tests were performed over the study period. Incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections was 0.57/1000 hospital-days. After adjustment on other factors (mean length of stay, use of PCR testing), incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections in a given ward was significantly associated with: the incidence of community-acquired viral respiratory infections among patients admitted to the ward (+ 0.10/1000 hospital-days per each additional point of incidence; P < 0.001), the number of double-occupancy rooms (+ 0.04/1000 hospital-days per each 10%-increase of double-occupancy rooms; P = 0.03) and masks consumption (+ 0.33/1000 hospital-days per 10 additional masks used per day; P = 0.04). Similar results were found for double-occupancy rooms (+ 0.01/1000 hospital-days per each 10%-increase of double-occupancy rooms; P = 0.012) in the sub-group analysis of influenza cases.
Conclusion: In a given hospital ward, the incidence of community-acquired cases and the proportion of double-occupancy rooms are independently associated with the incidence hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections.
Keywords: Healthcare-associated infections; Infection control; Influenza viruses; Respiratory syncytial virus; SARS-CoV- 2.
. 2025 Apr 11;14(1):28.
doi: 10.1186/s13756-025-01543-4. Associations between hospital structure, infection control and incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections: a 10-year surveillance study
Costa Salachas[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Quentin Le Hingrat[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Skerdi Haviari[SUP] 1 4 [/SUP], Audrey Valdes[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Vincent Mackiewicz[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Isabelle Lolom[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Nadhira Fidouh[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Benoît Visseaux[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Donia Bouzid[SUP] 1 6 [/SUP], Diane Descamps[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Jean-Christophe Lucet[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Charlotte Charpentier[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Solen Kernéis[SUP] 7 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 40217353
- DOI: 10.1186/s13756-025-01543-4
Background: Protecting patients from hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections is a major challenge, but the hierarchy of measures to achieve this is not yet completely clear.
Aim: To describe the epidemiology of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections and associations with structural hospital factors and adherence to infection control protocols.
Methods: Retrospective cohort study conducted over 10 consecutive years (2014-2023) within 27 hospital wards in a 900-bed university hospital in Paris, France. All hospitalized adult patients who were tested for at least one virus on a respiratory sample during their stay were included. Structural factors (percentage of double occupancy rooms) and adherence to infection control protocols by healthcare workers (measured by consumption of alcohol-based hand sanitizer and of facemasks) were included as predictors in the model.
Main outcome and measure: Incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections, defined by a positive PCR test for at least one respiratory virus, performed at least 5 days after hospital admission. Data were analyzed on ward-year aggregated data, with a linear mixed-effects model.
Findings: Overall, 183 994 viral PCR tests were performed over the study period. Incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections was 0.57/1000 hospital-days. After adjustment on other factors (mean length of stay, use of PCR testing), incidence of hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections in a given ward was significantly associated with: the incidence of community-acquired viral respiratory infections among patients admitted to the ward (+ 0.10/1000 hospital-days per each additional point of incidence; P < 0.001), the number of double-occupancy rooms (+ 0.04/1000 hospital-days per each 10%-increase of double-occupancy rooms; P = 0.03) and masks consumption (+ 0.33/1000 hospital-days per 10 additional masks used per day; P = 0.04). Similar results were found for double-occupancy rooms (+ 0.01/1000 hospital-days per each 10%-increase of double-occupancy rooms; P = 0.012) in the sub-group analysis of influenza cases.
Conclusion: In a given hospital ward, the incidence of community-acquired cases and the proportion of double-occupancy rooms are independently associated with the incidence hospital-acquired viral respiratory infections.
Keywords: Healthcare-associated infections; Infection control; Influenza viruses; Respiratory syncytial virus; SARS-CoV- 2.