Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2005;9(6):R631-5.
doi: 10.1186/cc3824. Epub 2005 Sep 28.

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

Leonardo Lorente  1 , Christophe Henry, María M Martín, Alejandro Jiménez, María L Mora
Affiliations
Comparative Study

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

Leonardo Lorente et al. Crit Care. 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).

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Vincent JL, Bihari DJ, Suter PM, Bruining HA, White J, Nicolas-Chanoin MH, Wolff M, Spencer RC, Hemmer M, and the EPIC International Advisory Committee The prevalence of nosocomial infection in intensive care units in Europe. Results of the European Prevalence of Infection in Intensive Care (EPIC) Study. JAMA. 1995;274:639–644. doi: 10.1001/jama.274.8.639. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Spengler RF, Greenough WB. Hospital costs and mortality attributed to nosocomial bacteremias. JAMA. 1978;240:2455–2458. doi: 10.1001/jama.240.22.2455. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Smith RL, Meixler SM, Simberkoff MS. Excess mortality in critically ill patients with nosocomial bloodstream infections. Chest. 1991;100:164–167. - PubMed
    1. Collignon PJ. Intravascular catheter associated sepsis: a common problem. The Australian Study on Intravascular Catheter Associated Sepsis. Med J Aust. 1994;161:374–378. - PubMed
    1. Pittet D, Tarara D, Wenzel R. Nosocomial bloodstream infection in critically ill patients. Excess length of stay, extra costs and attributable mortality. JAMA. 1994;271:1598–1601. doi: 10.1001/jama.271.20.1598. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms