Prevalence and Associated Factors of hospital acquired infection in pediatric intensive care unit St Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A retrospective Study

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Hospital-acquired infections are usually acquired after hospitalization and manifest 48 hours of admission. HAI is also a significant cause of increased morbidity and mortality amongst hospitalized patients and represents a considerable health and economic burden worldwide. Furthermore, evidence about HAI in pediatric ICU is limited. Objective: To assess the prevalence and factors associated with hospital-acquired infection in the pediatrics intensive care unit in St Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Abeba, from August 2022- July 2023. Methodology: From a one-year retrospective chart review admitted from August 2022-2023 to the pediatrics intensive care unit, 248 patients were selected by simple random sampling. Data were entered by Excel and exported and analyzed to SPSS version 25.0. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the association between dependent and independent variables and P-value <0.05 at 95%CI was used as statistically significant. Results: From a total of 344 patients 248 patients were selected by simple random sampling after the exclusion of patients aged less than one month and incomplete data records. The mean age per month was 32.84 months. Male patients accounted for 134(54%) of the study. The main source of admission was the emergency department 177(71.4%), followed by the pediatric ward 38(15.3%). More than half of the patients 130(52.4%) admitted come from rural areas. Regarding nutritional status 28.2% 0f children have severe malnutrition at the time of their admission. The prevalence of HAI in the PICU is 93(37.5%). The main focus of infection was respiratory, central nervous system, and gastrointestinal systems respectively. Organisms were identified in 27 cases. Conclusion: The rate of infection in this study was higher compared to some developing countries. Sedation, presence of a central line, previous antibiotics use, and GI prophylaxis had a statistical association with the development of hospital-acquired infection. Keywords Hospital-acquired infection, pediatrics, intensive care unit, low resource setting