Background During the intensive care units’ (ICUs) reorganization that was forced by the COVID-19 emergency, attention to traditional infection control measures may have been reduced. Nevertheless, evidence on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is still limited and mixed. In this study, we estimated the pandemic impact on HAI incidence and investigated the HAI type occurring in COVID-19 patients. Methods Patients admitted to the main ICU of the Umberto I teaching hospital of Rome from March 1st and April 4th 2020 were compared with patients hospitalized in 2019. We assessed the association of risk factors and time-to-first event through multivariable Fine and Grey’s regression models, that consider the competitive risk of death on the development of HAI (Model 1) or device related-HAI (dr-HAI, Model 2) and provide estimates of the sub-distribution hazard ratio (SHR) and its associated confidence interval (CI). A subgroup analysis was performed on the 2020 cohort. Results Data from 104 patients were retrieved. Overall, 59 HAIs were recorded, 32 of which occurred in the COVID-19 group. Patients admitted in 2020 were found to be positively associated with both HAI and dr-HAI onset (SHR: 2.66, 95% CI 1.31–5.38, and SHR: 10.0, 95% CI 1.84–54.41, respectively). Despite being not confirmed at the multivariable analysis, a greater proportion of dr-HAIs seemed to occur in COVID-19 patients, especially ventilator-associated pneumonia, and catheter-related urinary tract infections. Conclusions We observed an increase in the incidence of patients with HAIs, especially dr-HAIs, mainly sustained by COVID-19 patients. A greater susceptibility of these patients to device-related infections was hypothesized, but further studies are needed. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13756-021-00959-y.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, intensive care unit, Healthcare-associated infection, Devices-related infections, 【초록키워드】 infection control, pandemic, intensive care, susceptibility, COVID-19 pandemic, hospital, Infection, risk factor, ICU, Cohort, urinary tract infections, Patient, Model, incidence, estimate, COVID-19 patients, association, Evidence, Ventilator-associated pneumonia, risk of death, confidence interval, supplementary material, 95% CI, hazard ratio, multivariable analysis, measure, ICUs, COVID-19 group, subgroup analysis, Rome, regression models, COVID-19 emergency, multivariable, Result, greater, occurred, proportion, investigated, was performed, reduced, occur, increase in, sustained, were recorded, HAI, patients hospitalized, retrieved, Umberto, 【제목키워드】 intensive care, COVID-19 pandemic, Infection, retrospective cohort study,