Data Challenge: Clinical Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is increasingly recognize and pose a major threat to global health system, but yet there is still limited evidence on how the resistant infections is affecting patient outcomes in many African healthcare settings. A lot of the literature that exist has focuses on resistance rates and pathogen distribution only, while only the fewer studies have examined the direct consequences of AMR for hospitalized patients. Understanding these consequences is essential for guiding infection prevention efforts the antimicrobial stewardship programs and healthcare policy. This project will use data from the Surveillance Partnership to Improve Data for Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (SPIDAAR) a multicentre study conducted in hospitals across Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. This dataset would likely provides a valuable opportunity for us to investigate the relationship between antimicrobial resistance and clinical outcomes among patients with healthcare-associated infections. Our study will focus on adult and paediatric patients with bloodstream infections the hospital-acquired pneumonia, complicated urinary tract infections, complicated intra-abdominal infections, and also complicated skin and soft tissue infections. Our primary objective is to determine whether antimicrobial resistance is associated with poorer outcomes, including mortality, treatment failure, and the longer hospital stays. In our initial analyses we will describe the distribution of pathogens and resistance patterns across participating sites. Multivariable statistical models will then be used to explore the association between resistant infections and adverse clinical outcomes while accounting for available patient and hospital characteristics. By us focusing on patient outcomes rather than resistance prevalence alone, our project will aims to provide a clearer picture of the real-world burden of AMR in sub-Saharan Africa. Our findings for this research could help inform clinical practice and support evidence-based strategies to reduce the impact of resistant infections in resource-limited healthcare settings.