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Abstract
This study was designed to assess the overall prevalence of infection among patients
in hospitals in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Patient data were collected and
entered directly into a portable Olivetti (A12 notebook) computer with a custom-designed
program (Epi-Info version 5.01). The statistical analysis was performed using the
Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS). In all, 37 111 patients from
157 centres were studied, and a mean hospital acquired infection (HAI) prevalence
rate of 9·0% (range 2–29%) was calculated. HAI rates were higher in teaching hospitals
(11·2%) than in non-teaching hospitals (8·4%) P < 0·001. Four major sites of infections—infections of the urinary tract (23·2%),
surgical-wound infections (10·7%), lower-respiratory tract (22·9%) and skin infections
(9·6%)—accounted for 66·5% (2559 of 3848) of the total infections identified.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 25,
1996
Received:
January 10,
1996
Footnotes
☆This work was funded by the Hospital Infection Society and a research grant awarded to Professor A. M. Emmerson, on behalf of the Hospital Infection Society, from The Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust.
Identification
Copyright
© 1996 Published by Elsevier Inc.
