Abstract:
Objectives: To estimate the excess length of stay (LOS) and mortality in an intensive care unit (ICU) due to a Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), using a statistical model that accounts for the timing of infection in 29 ICUs from 10 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Greece, India, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, and Turkey. Methods: To estimate the extra LOS due to infection in a cohort of 69,248 admissions followed for 371,452 days in 29 ICUs, we used a multi-state model, including specific censoring to ensure that we estimate the independent effect of urinary tract infection, and not the combined effects of multiple infections. We estimated the extra length of stay and increased risk of death independently in each country, and then combined the results using a random effects meta-analysis. Results: A CAUTI prolonged length of ICU stay by an average of 1.59 days (95percent CI: 0.58, 2.59 days), and increased the risk of death by 15percent (95percent CI: 3, 28percent). Conclusions: A CAUTI leads to a small increased LOS in ICU. The increased risk of death due to CAUTI may be due to confounding with patient morbidity. © 2011 The British Infection Association.