Antimicrobial resistance is a major health threat worldwide as it brings about poorer treatment outcome and places economic burden to the society. This study aims to estimate the annual relative increased in inpatient mortality from antimicrobial resistant (AMR) nosocomial infections (NI) in Thailand. A retrospective cohort study was conducted at Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, over 2008-2012. Survival model was used to estimate the hazard ratio of mortality of AMR relative to those patients without resistance (non-AMR) after controlling for nine potential confounders. The majority of NI (73.80%) were caused by AMR bacteria over the study period. Patients in the AMR and non-AMR groups had similar baseline clinical characteristics. Relative to patients in the non-AMR group, the expected hazard ratios of mortality for patients in the AMR group with Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were 1.92 (95% CI 0.10-35.52), 1.25 (95% CI 0.08-20.29), 1.60 (95% CI 0.13-19.10) and 1.84 (95% CI 0.04-95.58), respectively. In the complete absence of AMR bacteria, this study estimated that annually, in Thailand, there would be 111 295 fewer AMR cases and 48 258 fewer deaths.
Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; health policy; hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections; infectious disease epidemiology.