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. 2020 Jan 13;9(1):13.
doi: 10.1186/s13756-019-0663-7. eCollection 2020.

Point prevalence survey of antimicrobial use and healthcare-associated infections in Belgian acute care hospitals: results of the Global-PPS and ECDC-PPS 2017

Eline Vandael  1 , Katrien Latour  1 , Herman Goossens  2 , Koen Magerman  3   4 , Nico Drapier  2 , Boudewijn Catry  1   5 , Ann Versporten  2   3 ; Belgian Point Prevalence Survey Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Point prevalence survey of antimicrobial use and healthcare-associated infections in Belgian acute care hospitals: results of the Global-PPS and ECDC-PPS 2017

Eline Vandael et al. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. .

Abstract

Background: The point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use organized by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC-PPS) and the Global Point Prevalence Survey of antimicrobial consumption (Global-PPS) were simultaneously performed in Belgian acute care hospitals in 2017.

Methods: Belgian acute care hospitals were invited to participate in either the ECDC or Global-PPS. Hospital/ward/patient-level data were collected between September-December 2017. All patients present in the wards at 8 a.m. on the day of the PPS were included. The data of the ECDC and Global-PPS on antimicrobial consumption were pooled. Detailed data on HAIs were analysed for ECDC-PPS.

Results: Overall, 110 Belgian acute care hospital sites participated in the ECDC and Global-PPS (countrywide participation rate: 81.4%, 28,007 patients). Overall, a crude prevalence of patients with at least one antimicrobial of 27.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) 26.5-27.6%) was found. The most frequently reported indications were pneumonia (23.2%), urinary tract infections (15.2%) and skin and soft tissue infections (11.9%). The reason for antimicrobial use was recorded for 81.9% of the prescriptions, a stop/review date for 40.8% and compliance with local antibiotic guidelines for 76.6%. In the ECDC-PPS, the crude prevalence of patients with at least one HAI was 7.3% (95%CI 6.8-7.7%). Most frequently reported HAIs were pneumonia (21.6%) and urinary tract infections (21.3%).

Conclusions: HAI and antimicrobial use prevalence remained stable in comparison with the previous PPS (7.1% and 27.4% in 2011 and 2015, respectively). Belgian hospitals should be further stimulated to set local targets to improve antibiotic prescribing and reduce HAI.

Keywords: Acute care hospitals; Antimicrobial consumption; Belgium; Healthcare-associated infections; Point prevalence survey.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of antibiotic prescriptions per antibiotic subclass and indication, total results for Global and ECDC-PPS 2017 (Belgium, acute care hospitals). CAI = community-acquired infection, HAI = acute-hospital-acquired infection, LAI = infection acquired in long-term care facility or chronic-care hospital, MP = medical prophylaxis, SP = surgical prophylaxis. * sum of the % prescriptions CAI – HAI – LAI – MP – SP = 100%
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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