Context: Acinetobacter infections are a major nosocomial infection causing epidemics of infection in the Intensive Care Units (ICU).
Aims: This study estimates the clinical and economic outcomes of Acinetobacter infections and compares them with those of non-Acinetobacter bacterial infections.
Settings and design: Prospective cross-sectional observational study carried out for 6 months in the medicine ICU of a tertiary care hospital.
Materials and methods: Patients were divided in two groups, one group with Acinetobacter infections and the other with non-Acinetobacter infections. The data was collected for infection, length of stay (LOS), mortality and cost along with patient demographics from the hospital records for analysis.
Statistical analysis used: The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 15.0. The LOS and cost of treatment (COT) for the two groups were compared using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-test.
Results: A total of 220 patients were studied out of which 91 had Acinetobacter infections. The median LOS was 20 days in Group-A and 12 days in Group-B (P < 0.0001). The median COT was INR 125,862 in Group-A and INR 68,228 in the Group-B (P < 0.0001). Mortality in Group-A and Group-B was 32.97 and 32.56 (P = 0.949) respectively.
Conclusion: The burden of Acinetobacter infections in ICUs is increasing with the increase in LOS and COT for the patients. The infection control team has to play a major role in reducing the rate of nosocomial infections.
Keywords: Acinetobacter species; direct cost; length of stay; mortality.