Clinical and economic impact of intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections in Taiwan: a nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the clinical and economic impact of intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections in Taiwan. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Nationwide Taiwanese population in the National Health Insurance Research Database and the Taiwan Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (2007–2015) dataset. PARTICIPANTS: The first episodes of intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections in patients ≥20 years of age in the datasets. Propensity score-matching (1:2) of demographic data, comorbidities and disease severity was performed to select a comparison cohort from a pool of intensive care unit patients without intensive care unit-acquired infections from the same datasets. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The mortality rate, length of hospitalisation and healthcare cost. RESULTS: After matching, the in-hospital mortality of 14 234 patients with intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections was 44.23%, compared with 33.48% for 28 468 intensive care unit patients without infections. The 14-day mortality rate was also higher in the bloodstream infections cohort (4323, 30.37% vs 6766 deaths, 23.77%, respectively; p<0.001). Furthermore, the patients with intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections had a prolonged length of hospitalisation after their index date (18 days (IQR 7–39) vs 10 days (IQR 4–21), respectively; p<0.001) and a higher healthcare cost (US$16 038 (IQR 9667–25 946) vs US$10 372 (IQR 6289–16 932), respectively; p<0.001). The excessive hospital stay and healthcare cost per case were 12.69 days and US$7669, respectively. Similar results were observed in subgroup analyses of various WHO’s priority pathogens and Candida spp. CONCLUSIONS: Intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections in critically ill patients were associated with increased mortality, longer hospital stays and higher healthcare costs.