A new report released last week by federal health officials shows the rate of patients getting infections in US hospitals fell in 2024, marking a continued decline from COVID pandemic–era highs.
The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) show that most health care–associated infections (HAIs) declined at US acute care hospitals from 2023 to 2024. Among the HAIs that saw significant declines were some of the most serious hospital-related infections, including central line–associated bloodstream infections, which fell by 9%. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) fell by 10%.
US acute care hospitals also saw an 11% decrease in hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infections, a 7% drop in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, a 4% decline in surgical site infections following colon surgery, and a 2% reduction in ventilator-associated events (VAEs).
Progress was also seen in other health care settings. Long-term acute care hospitals, which care for critically ill patients and are considered a high-risk environment for HAIs, reported a 23% decrease in VAEs and a 15% drop in C difficile infections. Inpatient rehabilitation facilities saw an 18% drop in C difficile cases and an 8% decline in CAUTIs.
Measurement of state-level performance shows 17 states performed better on at least two infection types in 2024 than they did in 2023, and 50 performed better when compared with the baseline year of 2015.
NHSN is the nation’s most widely used HAI surveillance system. The data from the 2024 National and State HAI Progress Report come from more than 38,000 US health care facilities.
Third straight year of declines
The report marks the third straight year of declines in HAIs at US hospitals, following two years (2020 and 2021) of dramatic increases in HAIs. The increases were driven primarily by increased demand for hospital resources during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with staffing and supply shortages. The combination of those two factors created new opportunities for transmission of bacterial pathogens in hospitals.
Some of those pathogens were antibiotic-resistant. A 2022 CDC report found that infections and deaths from drug-resistant, hospital-acquired bacteria rose by 15% from 2019 to 2020.
Prior to the pandemic, the rate of HAIs at US hospitals had been dropping since 2015, a decrease largely attributed to improved infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also implemented a program in 2015 that financially penalizes hospitals based on their performance in preventing HAIs and other preventable conditions that occur during hospital stays, like fall-related fractures.
The CDC estimates that roughly 1 in 31 US hospital patients contract at least one infection linked to their health care every day. The CDC said the results of the 2024 report show the continued need for hospitals to reinforce IPC measures.
“While much progress has been made, more needs to be done to prevent healthcare-associated infections in a variety of settings,” the agency said. “CDC will continue its prevention, tracking, lab, and applied research activities to push the country further toward the goal of eliminating HAIs.”
