Comparisons of infectious complications of central venous catheters used for long and short periods

OBJECTIVES: Risk factors for infectious complications of central venous catheters (CVC) were compared between CVC used for short and long periods to identify patients at risk. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective study was conducted over a 6 month period in two general intensive care units (87 patients with short duration CVC) and in 4 medical units (110 patient with cancer or HIV infection for whom long duration CVC was scheduled). The first CVC inserted was followed to withdrawal or for a minimal 3 months. RESULTS: The mean duration of CVC use was 7.5 and 106 days for the short and long duration groups respectively A CVC-related infection occurred in 6 patients in the short duration group and in 14 patients in the long duration group giving an incidence of 1.0/100 CVC days (95%Cl: 0.4 - 2.0) for the short-duration CVC group and 0.13/100 CVC days (95%Cl: 0.07 - 0.21) for the long-duration CVC group. Intensive care patients with a skin lesion far from the CVC insertion point had a higher incidence of CVC-related infection than patients without a skin infection. Taking into account the indications for CVC, patients with cancer or HIV infection had equivalent risk of infection. For both short and long duration CVC use, parenteral nutrition was found to be a major risk factor for infectious complications. CONCLUSION: Rigorous regular surveillance of nosocomial infections on central catheters should be centered on those inserted for parenteral nutrition.