Nosocomial Infections in a Neurological Intensive Care Unit

Background: Nosocomial infections in intensive care units are common and associated with high morbidity, mortality. This study was planned to evaluate the occurance and causes of site specific nosocomial infections in a neurological intensive care unit (NICU) and their relevance to underlying diseases. Methods: Patients treated for more than 24 hours in Ege University Medical School Hospital NICU were evaluated by prospective daily surveillance for overall and site specific infections during the 12 months of the year 2005. Nosocomial infections incidence and their relation with underlying disease were investigated. Results: Three hundred and fifty six patients were included. A hundred and ten nosocomial infections were seen. The rate of infection per 100 patients was 30.8. Site-specific infections were; urinary tract infection (49.1%), pneumonia (30.9%), catheter related blood stream infections (18.1%) and primary bacteremia (1.8%). In univariate analysis, no differences were found between the patients with stroke and other NICU disorders in terms of risk factors for NICU-AI such as; age, gender, type of nosocomial infections, length of stay, and mortality. But the length of stay was significantly prolonged and mortality was significantly higher in patients with NICU-AI when compared with patients without NICU-AIs. Conclusion: The incidence of nosocomial infections in our NICU was found to be as high as in other critical care units and causes higher mortality. This was supposed to be associated with prolonged hospital stay and insufficient compliance to infection control measures instead of the underlying disease of the patients.