Effectiveness of surveillance of central catheter-related bloodstream infection in an ICU in Korea

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether surveillance and infection control interven tions decrease the incidence of catheter-related (CR) bloodstream infection s (BSIs) in Korea. SETTING: A medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospi tal in Korea. DESIGN: The CR infection rate of the intervention period was compared to th at of historical controls for a 4-month period. PATIENTS: All patients with a central venous catheter in the intensive care unit (ICU) from October 1998 to January 1999. METHODS: Active infection control programs were initiated during the interv ention period. Data collected included patient characteristics, risk factor s of CR infection, and the microbiology laboratory results. Laboratory-prov en CR infection rates were compared between the intervention group and cont rol group. RESULTS: 304 catheters were inserted into 248 patients. The intervention gr oup and the control group showed similar characteristics, but more patients in the intervention group received steroid therapy, and subclavian inserti on was more common in the intervention group. CR BSI occurred in 1.3 per 1, 000 catheter-days in the intervention group and 4.2 in the control group (b inomial test, P6.14). CR infections were associated with the duration of IC U admission by multivariate logistic regression. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggested that an active infection surveillance and c ontrol program could reduce the rate of CR BSI in an ICU (Infect Control Ho sp Epidemiol 2001;22:433-436).