The longer a patient spends in the Intensive Care Unit, the greater the risk of developing serious infection, The New York Times reported.

Hospital infections can lead to serious medical complications and even death. The New York City medical malpractice lawyers at Queller, Fisher, Washor, Fuchs & Kool, fight for the rights of patients suffering from avoidable hospital infections. Infections can be caused by a hospital's negligence, surgical complications or failure to manage patient care.

The study was published in the Dec. 2 edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study surveyed more than 13,000 patients in 1,200 noncardiac intensive care units in 75 countries on a single day. Of the 51 percent of patients found to be infected, the most common infections were of the lung. Seventy-one percent were being treated with antimicrobial agents. One in four of those patients died, compared to just one in 10 of patients without infection.

"We've spent a lot of money on hand-washing campaigns," said Dr. Opal, an infectious disease expert at Brown University medical school who write an editorial accompanying the article. "These have had some impact but haven't changed the trajectory of the problem."

The longer a patient spent in an intensive care unit, the greater the risk of infection. Patients in I.C.U. for a day or less had a 32 percent chance of infection, compared to a 70 percent risk for those who had been hospitalized in intensive care for a week or longer.

The study concluded that Infections are common in patients in modern intensive care units; the risk of infection increases with duration of ICU stay; and infection was independently associated with an increased risk of hospital death.