Risk factors of healthcare-associated infections in recipients of bone marrow transplant

Bone marrow recipients are the most immunocompromizied patients who are susceptible to multiple infections. It is especially true for long-term episodes of drug-associated granulocytopenia. Our research goal was to identify risk factors of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in patients after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Risk factors of developing HAIs were identified by accomplishing an analytical epidemiological “case - control” study with 973 patients participating in it. They all underwent BMT in the Hematology, Chemotherapy and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department of the Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center on a period from 2015 to 2018. The following diseases were diagnosed in them: lymphoma (n = 158), multiple myeloma (n = 96), and multiple sclerosis (n = 719). HAIs cases were selected based on the standard (epidemiological) case definition in accordance with the Federal Clinical Recommendations on Epidemiological Surveillance over HAIs approved by the National Association of Experts responsible for Control over Healthcare-Associated Infections. Retrospective analysis established 75 HAIs cases or 7.7 % of the total number of the analyzed patients after BMT. Catheter-related bloodstream infections took the leading place among all the HAIs accounting for 52.0 ± 2.4 %. They were followed by bloodstream infections, 28.0 ± 3.1 %; lower respiratory tracts infections, 17.0 ± 3.2 %; and post-injection complications, 3.0 ± 0.6 %. Oncological diseases were established to cause HAIs in bone marrow recipients more frequently (ОR = 5.603; 95 % CI = 3.422-9.174) than multiple sclerosis (ОR = 0.178; 95 % CI = 0.109-0.292). This indicates that an underlying disease has its influence on a risk of infectious complications. We established a direct correlation between HAIs frequency and contamination with opportunistic microorganisms detected in objects in the hospital environment (r = 0.79, p = 0.01). This calls for implementing up-to-date disinfection provided for such objects.