Open Access Highly Accessed Research

Central venous catheter-related infection in a prospective and observational study of 2,595 catheters

Leonardo Lorente1*, Christophe Henry1, María M Martín1, Alejandro Jiménez2 and María L Mora1

Author Affiliations

1 Staff physician, Department of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

2 Methodological consultant, Research Unit, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

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Critical Care 2005, 9:R631-R635 doi:10.1186/cc3824

Published: 28 September 2005

Abstract

Introduction

Central venous catheterization is commonly used in critically ill patients and may cause different complications, including infection. Although there are many studies about CVC-related infection, very few have analyzed it in detail. The objective of this study was to analyze the incidence of catheter-related local infection (CRLI) and catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) with central venous catheters (CVCs) according to different access sites.

Methods

This is a prospective and observational study, conducted in a 24-bed medical surgical intensive care unit of a 650-bed university hospital. All consecutive patients admitted to the ICU during 3 years (1 May 2000 and 30 April 2003) were included.

Results

The study included 2,018 patients. The number of CVCs and days of catheterization duration were: global, 2,595 and 18,999; subclavian, 917 and 8,239; jugular, 1,390 and 8,361; femoral, 288 and 2,399. CRLI incidence density was statistically higher for femoral than for jugular (15.83 versus 7.65, p < 0.001) and subclavian (15.83 versus 1.57, p < 0.001) accesses, and higher for jugular than for subclavian access (7.65 versus 1.57, p < 0.001). CRBSI incidence density was statistically higher for femoral than for jugular (8.34 versus 2.99, p = 0.002) and subclavian (8.34 versus 0.97, p < 0.001) accesses, and higher for jugular than for subclavian access (2.99 versus 0.97, p = 0.005).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that the order for punction, to minimize the CVC-related infection risk, should be subclavian (first order), jugular (second order) and femoral vein (third order).