Background: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infection is a worldwide problem due to the increase in medical costs and high mortality when antibiotics that can treat it are limited. There are limited studies on CRE colonization in general...
Background: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infection is a worldwide problem due to the increase in medical costs and high mortality when antibiotics that can treat it are limited. There are limited studies on CRE colonization in general wards of small and medium hospitals in Korea, so there is insufficient evidence to apply an infection control guideline to these patients.
Purpose: To identify CRE colonization rates, characteristics of CRE isolates, and risk factors for CRE colonization in CRE culture tests performed within 24 hours of admission in patients transferred to general wards of small and medium-sized hospitals.
Methods: Among patients transferred to the general ward of a 280-bed C general hospital in Gyeonggi-do from January 2020 to December 2021, patients who underwent CRE culture tests within 24 hours of admission were enrolled. Forty-seven patients confirmed as positive for CRE were classified to the patient group. For the control group, 235 patients, five times the number of the patient group, were matched by gender, age, and diagnosis, and then selected at random using a random number table. Retrospective data were collected through patients’ medical records, and the statistical program SPSS statistics 25.0 was used for data analysis.
General and therapeutic characteristics of patients, and characteristics of CRE isolates were analyzed using, the mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage. Factors influencing on CRE colonization were identified using multiple logistic regression analysis.
Results : CRE colonization rate was confirmed as 5%, with 47 out of 933 patients were confirmed as colonization. For CRE isolates, Klebsiella pneumoniae was 68% and Escherichia coli was 24%, and the Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) positive rate was 61.7%. As CPE degrading enzymes, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) was 61.3% and New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) was 32.3%. Renal disease (OR 4.933, 95% CI 1.491 to 16.317), heart disease (OR 3.863, 95% CI 1.355 to 11.012), indwelling urinary catheters (OR 4.435, 95% CI 1.591 to 12.362), and cephalosporin antibiotics (OR 8.577, 95% CI 1.234 to 59.605) were identified as risk factors for CRE.
Conclusion : Patients with comorbid renal or cardiac disease, having an indwelling urinary catheter, or a history of exposure to cephalosporin antibiotics could be classified as risk factors for CRE colonization in patients transferred to general wards of small and medium size hospitals. It is necessary for patients with risk factors to proactively conduct a CRE culture test, and perform standard precautions and infection control by transmission route. Rapid identification of patients at high risk for CRE would contribute to the prevention of CRE transmission.