The Prevalence of Nosocomial Infections in the Eastern Mediterranean: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based information on the prevalence of nosocomial infections (NIs) and the determination of influencing factors can play a key role in developing effective infection control activities in healthcare settings, particularly in the East Mediterranean Region (EMR). This study aimed to determine the prevalence of NIs in the EMR. METHODS: A comprehensive search of electronic databases-including EMBASE, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science-was done between 2000 and 2021. To estimate the pooled prevalence of NIs in the EMR, a random-effects model was used to measure the effect size with a 95% confidence interval (CI). All analyses were done using a comprehensive meta-analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of NI in hospital settings was reported to be 13% (95% CI, 0.1-0.16). The highest rate of nosocomial infection was related to wound infection at 39% (95% CI, 0.23-0.58), followed by bloodstream infection at 32% (95% CI, 0.27-0.38). Among the common organisms that infected patients, E. coli was the cause of 16% (95% CI; 0.13-0.2) of NIs followed by Coagulase-negative staphylococci with the prevalence of 15% (95% CI, 0.11-0.19), Acinetobacter at 15% (95% CI, 0.13-0.18) and Staphylococcus at 13%. Study results also revealed a significant relationship between the prevalence of NI, age, and hospital length of stay (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Study results mentioned NI as a widespread challenge in the EMR, which mainly affects elderly patients with complicated clinical symptoms that need long-term hospital stay. To resolve the issue, early detection of infected individuals could improve the quality of response toward the infection.