UK Renal Registry 17th Annual Report: Chapter 12 Epidemiology of Reported Infections amongst Patients Receiving Dialysis for Established Renal Failure in England in 2012 to 2013: a Joint Report from Public Health England and the UK Renal Registry

Abstract

Introduction: Infection remains one of the leading causes of mortality in established renal failure patients receiving renal replacement therapy (RRT).

Methods: Data were submitted to Public Health England (PHE) by NHS acute Trusts via Health Care Associated Infection Data Capture System (HCAI-DCS) including whether the patients were receiving dialysis. Individual renal units then confirmed the record either directly via the database or after being contacted. Data were collected for the period 1st May 2012 to the 30th April 2013.

Results: There were 31 episodes of MRSA bacteraemia, an overall rate of 0.13 per 100 dialysis patient years, representing a further year-on-year fall in MRSA rate. There were a higher number of MSSA episodes, 372 in total,with an overall rate of 1.59 per 100 dialysis patient years. The number of episodes of E. coli and C. difficile were 308 (1.32 per 100 dialysis patient years) and 123 (0.55 per 100 dialysis patient years) respectively. The presence of a central venous catheter was associated with an elevated risk of MRSA and MSSA bacteraemia.

Conclusions: We present data relating to infections in renal dialysis patients reported to PHE in one year. The rate of MRSA bacteraemia episodes in England continues to fall. There is a higher rate of MSSA infections.We also report the results of the second year of E. coli and C. difficile data collection. Future cycles will give further ideas of the trend in incidences of these infections. Further work to refine the definitions and data collection is necessary to ensure consistency of reporting across centres.