Deaths for Hospital Acquired Infections in Intensive Care Units and COVID Departments in Italy That May Be Biased for Coronavirus Caused Mortality. Warning for Science and Politics and Further Suggestions

Abstract

Background Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are a serious concern for COVID-19 pandemic and its emergency in hospitals and healthcare units in Italy. The incidence of nosocomial infections in the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 is a quite dismissed feature in the crowded debate about how addressing and managing COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. Methods Statistical methods using Kaplan-Meier plots, Bayesian calculation on RR and Or, regression calculation and confounder ANCOVA tests were applied on publicly data from the Italian Ministry of Health to highlight the rate of HAIs on COVID diagnosis. Results RR value to die in hospitals during COVID-19 pandemic because of nosocomial infections in 2020, taking into account the number of deaths provided by the Italian Ministry of Health on December 31st 2020 and values about HAIs in current literature, leads to RR = 8.47 (CI95 = 8.38-8.56, odds ratio (OR) = 8.55). Hospitalized people have more probability to be healed (median, Me = 35.92) respect to non hospitalized ones (Me = 30.28), whereas hospitalization increased the median of deaths (Me = 29.37) respect to non hospitalized people (Me =24.26). Conclusions Nosocomial infections may exert a major role, as a confounder, in increasing the dramatic amount of deceases so far accounted to exclusively SARS-CoV2 infections. If such, politics should be much more aware of this concern.