An epidemiological study of nosocomial infections in the patients admitted in the intensive care unit of Urmia Imam Reza Hospital: An etiological investigation

The prevalence of nosocomial infections in critical care units is high. Nosocomial infections are of serious hospital problems. In addition, they are impose heavy costs on hospitals, causing increased hospitalization time, increased morbidity and mortality. In this study, we aimed to determine the epidemiological status of nosocomial infections in hospital ICU Imam Reza, Urmia, Iran. This study was performed on 556 patients who were admitted to ICU of Imam Reza hospital from 2006-2007. The data collected according to the questionnaire, addressing the demographic characteristics, intervention measures on patient, paraclinical reviews, and therapeutic measures on patients. The clinical signs and symptoms of patients were also controlled. In suspected patients, necessary laboratory tests and cultures were done. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 17 package. The incidence of nosocomial infections was 8.45 percent. The most common type of infections were pneumonia 59.5%, UTI 21.3%, and both 19.1% respectively. The most common microorganisms in pulmonary infections were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in UTI E. coli, respectively. Incidence of pneumonia significantly is more than of other (p < 0.01). Also the correlation of ICU stay time, endotracheal tube, central venous catheter and incidence of nosocomial infection is significant (p< 0.001). Nevertheless, the effect of age, gender and taking corticosteroids were not statistically significant (p>0.05). The prevalence of nosocomial infection in this study, was consistent with the prevalence mentioned in mentioned in the reference texts of infectious diseases (e.g. Mandel), approximately as 5-20%. We found the minimal extent of this rate the prevalence of nosocomial infections, namely nearly 5%. Here, like other studies, we reported gram-negative bacteria as the most common cause of nosocomial infections. The results of this study asserts the importance of ongoing processes in ICU for the prevention of nosocomial infections. Keyword: Intensive care unit, nosocomial infection, device-associated infection. ______________________________________________________________________________ Peyman Mikaili et al Annals of Biological Research, 2011, 2 (5):172-178 _____________________________________________________________________________