Hospital-acquired infections: a cost estimation for CLABSI in Portugal

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsHospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are defined as system infections that neither were present nor in incubation when the patient was hospitalized. We provide an estimation of most extra direct costs (those associated to longer hospitalization), length of stay and mortality rate due to the onset of a particular HAI, the central line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) in a 322-bed Portuguese hospital between 2009 and 2012. Main outputs drivers are identified, then a matching estimator is implemented in order to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) for infected patients. ATE was estimated by using two different matching criteria accounting both for personal characteristics and health status of the patients. Results are significant and in line with literature: CLABSIs result in average extra costs per patient between 7930.84€ and 11,230.42€; an extra average length of stay between 20 and 25 days; and expected difference of mortality rate between 8.58% and 18.18%. Findings- confirming expectation of higher costs associated due to these infections- have important policy implications such as decision of investing in prevention campaigns. Indeed, CLABSIs are considered highly preventable infections such that there is great potential of reducing their incidence