SURVEILLANCE OF HEMODIALYSIS RELATED INFECTIONS: A PROSPECTIVE
MULTICENTER STUDY, FIRST REPORT FROM TURKEY
Abstract
Background There is neither a surveillance system nor a study to reveal
the HD related infection rates in Turkey. We aimed to investigate the
infection rate among HD outpatients and implement CDC’s surveillance
system. Methods A multicenter prospective surveillance study is
performed to investigate the infection rate among HD patients. CDC
National Healthcare Safety Network dialysis event (DE) protocol is
adopted for definitions and reporting. Results During April 2016–April
2018, 9 centers reported data. A total of 199 DEs reported in 10035
patient-months, and the overall DE rate was 1.98 per 100 patient-months.
Risk of blood culture positivity is found to be 17.6 times higher when
hemodialysis was through a tunneled catheter than through an
arteriovenous fistula. DE rate was significantly lower in patients
educated about the care of their vascular access site. Mean body mass
index was significantly higher in patients with any DE. Staphylococcus
aureus was the most causative microorganism among mortal patients.
Outcomes of DEs were hospitalization (73%), loss of vascular access
(18.2%), and death (7.7%). Conclusions This first surveillance study
in Turkey gave insight into current DE status and will guide to generate
a national surveillance system for maintaining much lower DE rates.