People admitted to hospital for the treatment of COVID-19 are likely to have a higher incidence of healthcare associated infections, finds a study.

The study, published online in JAMA Network Open, showed that the occurrence of central line-associated bloodstream infection, catheter-associated urinary tract infection, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia was between 2.7 and 3.7-fold higher in the COVID-19 population.

"Patients with COVID-19 may require additional protective care to prevent the infections," said Kenneth E. Sands, along with other authors from the HCA Healthcare in Tennessee, US.

For the study, the team conducted a cross-sectional analysis of more than 5 million hospitalisations between 2020 and 2022.

The results showed that the incidence of central line-associated bloodstream infection was nearly fourfold higher among the COVID-19 population than the non-COVID-19 population (25.4 versus 6.9 per 100,000 patient-days).

Similar trends were seen for catheter-associated urinary tract infection (16.5 versus 6.1) and for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia (11.2 versus 3.7).

However, the study found that occurrence of these infections among patients hospitalised without COVID-19 did not increase significantly.

"Despite the strain on the healthcare system, the increase in healthcare-associated infections was not observed in the non-COVID-19 population, suggesting that key safety processes were maintained," the team said.