Temporal Changes in Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance in 23 U.S. Hospitals

• Main Authors: Project Hospitals, Scott K. Fridkin, Holly A. Hill, Nataliya V. Volkova, Jonathan R. Edwards, Rachel M. Lawton, Robert P. Gaynes, John E. McGowan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2002-07-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: antibiotic resistance; epidemiologic methods; nosocomial infections; surveillance; United States
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/7/01-0427_article

Antimicrobial resistance is increasing in nearly all health-care–associated pathogens. We examined changes in resistance prevalence during 1996–1999 in 23 hospitals by using two statistical methods. When the traditional chi-square test of pooled mean resistance prevalence was used, most organisms appear to have increased in prevalence. However, when a more conservative test that accounts for changes within individual hospitals was used, significant increases in prevalence of resistance were consistently observed only for oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, ciprofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and ciprofloxacin- or ofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli. These increases were significant only in isolates from patients outside intensive-care units (ICU). The increases seen are of concern; differences in factors present outside ICUs, such as excessive quinolone use or inadequate infection-control practices, may explain the observed trends.