Central line colonization, central line infection, Central line- associated and Catheter-related bloodstream infections in Greek pediatric intensive care patients: a prospective one year study

Central line colonization, central line infection, Central line-associated and Catheter-related bloodstream infections in Greek pediatric intensive care patients: a prospective one year study Volakli E, Sdougka M, Violaki A, Vogiatzi L, Skoumis K, Dimitriadou M The purpose of this study (prospective one year study of all patients requiring a central line) is to present central line colonization, central line infection, central line-associated and catheter-related bloodstream infection rates, risk factors, and the outcomes in a multidisciplinary Greek pediatric intensive care unit. 81 patients required 136 episodes of catheterization with duration of 9 (5.25-14.75) days. Device utilization ratio was 0.8. Eleven patients developed 17 episodes of central line-associated blood- stream infection (CLABSI) in 1629 catheter days, given a CLABSI rate of 10.43:1000. 3 catheter tip cultures revealed the same microorganism as the bloodstream infection (BSI), specified a cathe- ter-related (CRBSI) rate of 1.84:1000. Catheter tip infection occurred at a rate of 3.69:1000, where- as catheter colonization at 8.59:1000. Gram-positive microorganisms predominated in CLABSIs (52.94%), whilst Gram-negative pathogens predominated in colonization (64.28%), infection (66.66%), and CRBSI (66.66%), Acinetobacter baumanii being the principal pathogen. CLABSI patients had longer duration (days) of catheterization (17 vs 9, P=0.014), mechanical ventilation (17 vs 8, P=0.014), and unit stay (17 vs 10, P=0.037), without an impact on mortality. CLABSIs occurred more often in patients with Hickman catheters (P=0.003), co morbidities