The Prevalence of Nosocomial Infection and Antibiotic Use in German Hospitals.

Background: In 2011 and again in 2016, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) asked all European countries to carry out nationwide studies on the prevalence of nosocomial infection (NI) and antibiotic use (AU). Data on NI and AU constitute an essential basis for the development of measures to prevent infection and lessen antibiotic resistance. Methods: The German prevalence study of 2016 was carried out according to the ECDC protocol. Alongside a sample of 49 acute-care hospitals requested by the ECDC that was representative in terms of size (number of beds), further hospitals were invited to participate as well. Analyses were made of the overall group (218 hospitals, 64 412 patients), the representative group (49 hospitals), and the core group (46 hospitals). The core group consisted of the hospitals that had participated in the study of 2011. Results: The prevalence of patients with NI was 4.6% in the overall group in 2016; it had been 5.1% in 2011 (p < 0.01). In the representative group, the prevalence was 3.6% (compared to 5.1% in 2011, p < 0.01). In the core group, the prevalence of NI was the same in 2016 as it had been in 2011. The prevalence of patients with ABU in the overall group remained the same, but a fall was seen in the representative group (21.5% versus 23.3%; p < 0.01) and a rise in the core group (27.3% versus 26.2%; p = 0.02). The staff-patient ratio among the infection prevention and control professionals improved in all three groups. Conclusion: A decrease in NI and AU prevalence was seen in the representative group, while mixed results were seen in the other analyzed groups. Further efforts to reduce NI and ABA are clearly necessary.