Associated deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Switzerland, 2010 to 2019

BACKGROUND: Cassini et al. (2019) estimated that, in 2015, infections with 16 different antibiotic-resistant bacteria resulted in ca 170 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) per 100,000 population in the European Union and European Economic area (EU/EEA). The corresponding estimate for Switzerland was about half of this (87.8 DALYs per 100,000 population) but still higher than that of several EU/EEA countries (e.g. neighbouring Austria (77.2)). AIM: In this study, the burden caused by the same infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria (‘AMR burden’) in Switzerland from 2010 to 2019 was estimated and the effect of the factors ‘linguistic region’ and ‘hospital type’ on this estimate was examined. METHODS: Number of infections, DALYs and deaths were estimated according to Cassini et al. (2019) whereas separate models were built for each linguistic region/hospital type combination. RESULTS: DALYs increased significantly from 3,995 (95% uncertainty interval (UI): 3;327–4,805) in 2010 to 6,805 (95% UI: 5,820–7,949) in 2019. Linguistic region and hospital type stratifications significantly affected the absolute values and the slope of the total AMR burden estimates. DALYs per population were higher in the Latin part of Switzerland (98 DALYs per 100,000 population; 95% UI: 83–115) compared with the German part (57 DALYs per 100,000 population; 95% UI: 49–66) and in university hospitals (165 DALYs per 100,000 hospitalisation days; 95% UI: 140–194) compared with non-university hospitals (62 DALYs per 100,000 hospitalisation days; 95% UI: 53–72). CONCLUSIONS: The AMR burden estimate in Switzerland has increased significantly between 2010 and 2019. Considerable differences depending on the linguistic region and the hospital type were identified – a finding which affects the nationwide burden estimation.