Study finds 1 in 10 UK patients contracted COVID-19 in hospital in the first wave | Hospitals

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Researchers have found that around one in 10 patients contracted coronavirus while in hospital during the first wave of the pandemic in the UK – and that number rose to about one in six after the peak of Covid hospital admissions.

However, they stressed that vaccines, improvements in diagnosis, the supply of personal protective equipment and an enhanced understanding of the virus have significantly reduced the risk of contracting Covid in hospitals. “Things have changed dramatically for the better,” said Dr Christopher Green, Senior Clinical Lecturer and Consultant Infectious Diseases at the University of Birmingham.

During the first wave, on average, 11.3% of Covid patients in the UK contracted Covid-19 after being hospitalized for other reasons, and this percentage rose to around 15.8% in May after the peak of hospitalizations. This has been the worst of the pandemic, Green said, as far as hospitals are concerned.

The average level of hospital-acquired COVID-19 was not entirely surprising, the researchers said, given that the average risk of contracting influenza in hospitals is about 10%.

The researchers studied 72,157 patients (two-thirds of all hospital admissions in the UK) who were admitted to 314 hospitals during the first wave. They infer which patients were infected after admission, based on information about how long it takes for symptoms to develop after infection with the virus that causes Covid-19.

Using the August 1, 2020, deadline, the researchers estimated that between 5,699 to 11,862 patients were infected during their stay in the hospital, but cautioned that this range is likely to be an underestimate since the researchers were unable to identify which patients were infected. During admission but discharged from hospital before symptoms appear, or infected patients during another health care visit prior to admission.

There were stark differences in the risk of contracting Covid in different hospital settings: acute and general care hospitals had the lowest at around 9.7%; Community and mental health hospitals reported a higher overall percentage, 61.9% and 67.5%, respectively.

Given that patients in residential and long-term facilities tend to stay for extended periods, it is not unusual for these rates to be higher.

However, there were also significant differences between acute and general hospitals. In some crowded hospitals, there have been outstanding examples of good infection prevention control and practice, but there have also been cases where the standard has not been good, said Calum Semple, professor of children’s health and outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool.

The scientists attributed the differences to multiple factors, including insufficient personal protective equipment and testing supplies as well as a poor understanding of how the virus is transmitted, but noted that these wide differences mean there are important lessons to be learned for future outbreaks.

Although this data has now been published in The Lancet, the researchers have been sharing their analyzes with the NHS and policymakers since last year. Green said they continue to monitor the proportion of cases that can be acquired from hospitals – and that range looks much better at 3% to 5% now.

“I don’t want people to be afraid to come to hospitals because we actually understand a lot that we didn’t know at the time,” he said.

“One of the main differences, of course, is the high rates of vaccine coverage – vaccination … greatly reduces your risk of contracting the disease – but even if you are lucky enough to continue to get infected despite being vaccinated, it also dramatically reduces the ability to be sent to another person “.

“We hope there will now be a greater focus on reducing the risk of hospital-acquired infections,” Semple added. “Looking at hospital-acquired infections should be business as usual [NHS] Trusts, not an extraordinary activity.”

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