Lower incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infection in subclavian venous access in the presence of tracheostomy than in femoral venous access: prospective observational study

Abstract Guidelines for the prevention of catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) recommend subclavian rather than femoral venous access to minimize the risk of CRBSI. However, they do not address the issue of CRBSI with subclavian venous access in the presence of tracheostomy, where the incidence of CRBSI has been found to be higher than without tracheostomy. In this study, we found lower CRBSI in subclavian venous access in the presence of tracheostomy than in femoral venous access (3.9 vs. 10.1 CRBSI per 1000 catheter-days; odds ratio=0.39; 95% confidence interval ≤0.001–0.91; p 0.03).