ArticleAntimicrobial resistance and infection control2022
No increase of device associated infections in German intensive care units during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Article in Antimicrobial resistance and infection control, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality burden of non-COVID-19 lower respiratory infections and aetiologies, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of Expanding Infection Control Team Functions on Device-Associated HAIs: A Leadership-Oriented Intervention Study (2017-2024).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Catheter-associated urinary tract infections in the intensive care unit during and after the COVID- 19 pandemic.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Trends in Healthcare-Acquired Infections Due to Multidrug-Resistant Organisms at a German University Medical Center Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Risk of central line-associated bloodstream infections during COVID-19 pandemic in intensive care patients in a tertiary care centre in Saudi Arabia.Epidemiology and infection · 2024Article
- An analysis of central venous catheter-related bloodstream infections in patients treated in a Swedish Covid-19 intensive care unit.SAGE open medicine · 2024Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood culture practices and bloodstream infections.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impact on central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI): a systematic review.Infection prevention in practice · 2023Review
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- In Reply.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2023Article
- Survey of disinfection of gloved hands in Germany in 2016 and 2022: Change of attitude but persistent problems with glove use.Journal of infection prevention · 2023Article
- Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections in Critical Ill Patients during and before the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on multidrug-resistant organisms causing healthcare-associated infections: a narrative review.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2023Review
- Healthcare-associated infections in Dutch hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2023Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on healthcare-associated infections: Antimicrobial consumption does not follow antimicrobial resistance.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic may have had a substantial impact on the incidence of device-associated healthcare-associated infections (HAI), in particular in intensive care units (ICU). A significant increase of HAI was reported by US hospitals when comparing incidence rates from 2019 and 2020. The objective of this study was to investigate the development of the most relevant device-associated HAI in German ICUs during the year 2020 as compared to 2019.
methodsWe utilized the data of the ICU component of the German National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections (KISS = Krankenhaus-Infektions-Surveillance-System) for the period 2019-2020. We focused on central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), ventilator-associated lower respiratory infections (VALRTI) and bloodstream infections associated with the use of Extracorporeal-Life-Support-Systems (ECLSABSI). Device use was defined as the number device days per 100 patient days; device-associated infection rates as the number of device-associated infections per 1000 device days. To compare the pooled means between the years and quarters we calculated rate ratios of device-associated infection rates with 95% confidence intervals by Poisson regression models.
resultsThe number of participating ICUs in the surveillance system decreased from 982 in 2019 to 921 in 2020 (6.2%). Device utilization rates increased significantly for central lines and ventilator use. VALRTI rates and CAUTI rates decreased in 2020 compared with 2019, however, no increase was shown for CLABSI or ECLSABSI. This result was also confirmed when the corresponding quarters per year were analyzed.
conclusionsThe lack of an increase in device-associated healthcare associated infections (HAI) in German ICUs may be due to the lower overall incidence of COVID-19 cases in Germany in 2020 compared with US, to a very high availability of ICU beds per 100,000 inhabitants compared with many other countries, and a change in the ICU patient mix due to numerous elective procedures that were postponed during the first two waves. The primary reason seems to be that only 7% of all ICU patients in Germany in 2020 were COVID-19 patients.
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