The year 2022 showed U.S. progress in preventing several important healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in Acute Care Hospitals (ACHs). This progress is the first of its kind since the emergence of the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the 2022 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Progress Report. While some settings saw no change or increases in infections, Acute Care Hospitals reported significant decreases in some HAIs between 2021 and 2022:
– Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) (down 9%),
– Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) (down 12%),
– Ventilator-associated events (VAE) (down 19%),
– Hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia (down 16%), and
– Hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile (CDI) (down 3%).
– Surgical site infections (SSI) following abdominal hysterectomy and colon surgery had no significant changes (figure 1).
The 2015 national baseline standardized infection ratio (SIR) of 1 is used as a reference point for measuring progress. In 2022, all national SIRs except VAEs improved compared to the 2015 baseline SIR of 1 for ACHs (figure 2).
The new report includes data from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Data for acute care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), and long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) are available in the Antimicrobial Resistance & Patient Safety Portal (AR&PSP).
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