An analysis of health economics related to hospital-associated infections: A prospective case–control analysis of 7-year data from a tertiary referral corporate hospital in India

Objective: Healthcare associated infections cause significant morbidity, mortality and escalation of cost of care. It is the responsibility of all concerned to work towards reducing this potentially preventable increase in morbidity, mortality and cost caused by healthcare associated infections. Such data in Indian subcontinent has been studied sparingly. The objective of this study was to understand the degree of the cost escalation, morbidity and mortality associated with healthcare associated infections. Design: This prospective case controlled observational study was carried out from the year 2007 onwards. All the infections that occurred unto 2014 were included. Cost, morbidity and mortality of two similar matched controls for each infected case were chosen. Setting: Tertiary referral hospital. Participants: All patients with healthcare associated infections and twice that number as control. Interventions: None. Main outcome measure: Escalation of cost, morbidity and mortality due to healthcare. Results: There were five hundred fifteen infections during the study period. The escalation of cost due to infection was $ 4611. The mean mortality in the infected group was 8.75% in contrast to 2.5 in the non infected group. The mortality due to central line associated blood stream infection and ventilator associated pneumonia was more than 30% each. The length of stay in the intensive care unit was 8 days in the infected group in contrast to 2.27 days in the non infected group. Length of stay in the hospital was 33.5 days in the infected patients in contrast to 10.3 days in the non infected group. Conclusions: Healthcare associated infections caused escalation of cost, length of stay in the intensive care unit and hospital. Mortality in the infected cohort was more in contrast to the controls.