*2.3. Data Collection*

Data was collected using the case report form (CRF; see Supplementary Materials) used in EPIC III, investigating presence of infection (up to a maximum of four per patient).

#### *2.4. Operative Definitions*

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) case definitions were applied for infection surveillance [21]. Sepsis and septic shock were defined according to the Third International Consensus Definitions [23]. Multi-drug resistant organisms were defined according to ECDC 2012 definitions [24].

In case of infection, clinicians were asked to classify the mode of acquisition as certainly/possibly/probably and community-acquired/hospital-acquired/ICU-acquired [9].

Infections occurring at least 48 h after hospital admission were defined as 'hospitalacquired'. Infections occurring at least 24 h after ICU admission were defined as 'ICU acquired'. All other infections were defined as 'community-acquired'.

Antimicrobial prophylaxis (not previously defined in the EPIC protocol) was clinically defined as the use of an antimicrobial to prevent the occurrence of an infection, both in medical or surgical contexts.
