Despite a trend statewide among hospitals lowering rates of infection, Western New York hospitals have seen rates increase in 10 out of 15 areas, according to a new report.
On Sept. 1, the State Department of Health issued the third annual report on hospital-acquired infections (HAI) based on information from 2009 and the previous two years for selected infections.
Statewide, the rate of central-line associated blood stream infections has fallen 18 percent since 2007, while rates for surgical site infections related to colon surgery and cardiac bypass surgery fell by 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
But in the Western New York area, identified as the Buffalo region in the report, rates rose in two thirds of the 15 areas studied between 2008 and 2009.