Hospital-acquired infections in elderly patients: results of a West Anatolian University Hospital surveillance

The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and the pattern of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in elderly (age over 65) patients, using routine surveillance data collected by the infection control committee in Dokuz Eylül University Hospital. In this study, 199 elderly patients diagnosed with HAIs in the years of 1999-2000 were included. During this period, 22.7% of all patients who had HAI were over 65 years old. The incidence rate of HAI in elderly patients was 1.2%, increasing with age. The most common types of HAIs were surgical site infections, septicemia, lower respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections.