Risk Factors of Infections Due to Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria in a Community Hospital in Rural Thailand

Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health concern globally. The most serious antimicrobial resistance problem among pathogenic bacteria is multidrug resistance (MDR). The objectives of this study were to investigate the risk factors of MDR infections and to develop a risk assessment tool for MDR Gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB) infections at a community hospital in rural Thailand. The study revealed 30.77% MDR-GNB among GNB strains. The most common MDR-GNB strains were 63.02% for Escherichia coli and 11.46% for Klebsiella pneumoniae. A case–control study was applied to collect clinical data between January 2016 and December 2020. Univariate logistic regression and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the risk factors for MDR-GNB and a risk assessment score for each factor was determined based on its regression coefficient. The risk factors for MDR-GNB infections were as follows: the presence of Enterobacteriaceae that produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) (OR(Adj.) 23.53, 95% CI 7.00–79.09), infections occurring within the urinary tract (OR(Adj.) 2.25, 95% CI 1.44–3.53), and patients with a history of steroid usage (OR(Adj.) 1.91, 95% CI 1.15–3.19). Based on the assigned risk scores for each associated factor, the newly developed risk assessment tool for MDR-GNB infections achieved 64.54% prediction accuracy (AUC-ROC 0.65, 95% CI 0.61–0.68), demonstrating that the tool could be used to assess bacterial infection cases in community hospitals. Its use should provide practical guidance on MDR evaluation and prevention. This study was part of an antibiotic stewardship program; the study surveyed antibiotic-resistant situations in a hospital and implemented an effective risk assessment tool using key risk factors of MDR-GNB infections.