Trends in prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in hospitals in the Netherlands: 10 years of national point-prevalence surveys

Prevalence of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) and antimicrobial use in hospitals in the Netherlands has been measured using voluntary biannual national point-prevalence surveys (PPSs). To describe trends in the prevalence of patients with HCAI, risk factors, and antimicrobial use in 2007–2016. In the PPS, patient characteristics, use of medical devices and antimicrobials, and presence of HCAI on the survey day are reported for all hospitalized patients, excluding patients in the day-care unit and psychiatric wards. Analyses were performed using linear and (multivariate) logistic regression, accounting for clustering of patients within hospitals. PPS data were reported for 171,116 patients. Annual prevalence of patients with HCAI with onset during hospitalization decreased from 6.1% in 2007 to 3.6% in 2016. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for trend was 0.97 (95% confidence interval: 0.96–0.98). Most prominent trends were seen for surgical site infections (1.6%–0.8%; OR: 0.91 (0.90–0.93)) and urinary tract infections (2.1%–0.6%; OR: 0.85 (0.83–0.87)). From 2014 on, HCAIs at admission were also registered with a stable prevalence of approximately 1.5%. The mean length of stay decreased from 10 to 7 days. The percentage of patients treated with antibiotics increased from 31% to 36% (OR: 1.03 (1.02–1.03)). Repeated PPS data from 2007 to 2016 show a decrease in the prevalence of patients with HCAI with onset during hospitalization, and a stable prevalence of patients with HCAI at admission. The adjusted OR of 0.97 for HCAI during hospitalization indicates a true reduction in prevalence of approximately 3% per year.