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Number of Comorbidities as a Predictor of Nosocomial Infection Acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Peter A. Gross*
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey and School of Public Health (Biostatistics), College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York
Peter J. DeMauro
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey and School of Public Health (Biostatistics), College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York
Carole Van Antwerpen
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey and School of Public Health (Biostatistics), College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York
Sylvan Wallenstein
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey and School of Public Health (Biostatistics), College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York
Stanley Chiang
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey and New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey and School of Public Health (Biostatistics), College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York
*
Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack Medical Center, 30 Prospect Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601

Abstract

Infection control programs are primarily oriented toward chronicling the incidence of nosocomial infections (NI). Intervention programs oriented toward preventing infection would be facilitated by identifying patients at greatest risk of NI acquisition. We studied the number of comorbidities as a risk predictor for NIs in patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (ICU) for three or more days. In 148 patients, we found by regression analysis that the number of comorbidities varied directly with the development of nosocomial infections, as well as with the appearance of new complications and length of ICU stay. Diagnosis-related groups did not adequately account for the variance in comorbidities observed.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1988

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