Healthcare-associated infections among patients hospitalized for cancers of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx

Introduction: The negative consequences of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) on the burden of illness (BOI) of cancer patients are well-established. However, there is a paucity of research on HAI among cancers of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx (CLOCP), and whether HAI-related BOI differed for other common solid tumors-malignant neoplasm of the colon (MNC) and malignant neoplasm of the lung (MNL).

Methods: We utilized the United States' National Inpatient Sample database 2017 to study longitudinal inpatient hospital stay of CLOCP, MNC and MNL. Patient demographics and hospital characteristics of patients were assessed, and the impact of HAI-related BOI compared based on differences in length of hospital stays (LOS), total charges during hospitalization and mortality were compared.

Findings: In 2017, of the 54,934 patients with CLOCP, 1.2% had HAI, compared to MNC (n=64,470) with 2% HAI and MNL (n=154,685) with 1.2% HAI. In adjusted multivariable regression analysis, we determined CLOCP patients with HAI had LOS of 5.6 days longer (95% CIs, 3.0-8.2 days, P < 0.001), and hospitalization charges of $40,341 higher (95%CIs 15,715-64,967, P < 0.01) than the non-HAI CLOCP patients. Mortality was not significantly different among HAI and non-HAI CLOCP patients (odds ratio: 0.80; 95%CIs 0.35-1.87, P = 0.6). In unadjusted analysis, LOS and total charges were higher for CLOCP-HAI patients vs. MNC-HAI or MNL-HAI patients.

Conclusion: HAI in patients with CLOCP patients were associated with an increased BOI, and this is considerably higher than observed in patients with MNC or MNL patients who had HAI.