Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections, Bacteremia, and Infection Control Interventions in a Hospital: A Six-Year Time-Series Study

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are among the most common healthcare-associated infections. Urine catheters are often reservoirs of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and sources of pathogens transmission to other patients. The current study was conducted to investigate the correlation between CAUTIs, MDR bacteremia, and infection control interventions, in a tertiary-care hospital in Athens, from 2013 to 2018. The following data were analyzed per month: 1. CAUTI incidence; 2. consumption of hand hygiene disinfectants; 3. incidence of isolation of MDR carrier patients, and 4.incidence of bacteremia/1000 patient-days [total resistant a.Gram-negative: carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae; b.Gram-positive: vancomycin-resistant Enterococci and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus]. The use of scrub disinfectant solutions was associated with decreased CAUTI rate in Total Hospital Clinics (OR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.96–0.98, p-value: <0.001) and in Adults ICU (OR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65–0.96, p-value:0.018) while no correlation was found with isolation rate of MDR-carrier pathogens. Interestingly, an increase in total bacteremia (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.75–0.87, p-value:<0.001) or carbapenem-resistant bacteremia correlated with decreased incidence of CAUTIs (OR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.94–0.99, p-value: 0.008). Hand hygiene measures had a robust and constant effect on infection control, reducing the incidence of CAUTIs.