A study of nosocomial infection in relation to different host factors in an Indian teaching hospital.

Out of a total of 422 patients studied, 164 (38.8%) developed nosocomial infection. The rate was higher (41.6%) in males than in females (34.7%). A rising trend of infection was observed with age, maximum (69.6%) being in the above 60 age group. Nosocomial infection rate was inversely proportional to the socio-economic status of the patient. At the same time some underlying diseases in the patients influenced the rate of infection to a great extent, eg infection rates in patients with anaemia (53.7%), diabetes mellitus (85.2%), hypertension (82.0%) and obesity (51.5%) were much more than in patients with no such underlying disease (17.5%).