Catheter-related bloodstream infection on patients admitted in an intensive care unit: the impact on mortality and hospital’ costs

Abstract

Central Venous Catheters are widely used in Intensive Care Units. Study Objectives: Evaluate the impact of catheter related bloodstream infection on patients admitted in Intensive Care Units: (attributed mortality and internment period) and the additional costs. Methodology: It’s an equalized case control study that involved 570 patients admitted in an Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, between September 2006 and December 2007. The control patients were patients admitted in the same ward and didn’t have infection. The variables used for pair matching were sex, age and complexity evaluated by the APACHE II index. Results: During the study period 17 cases of catheter related bloodstream infection cases occurred. Two were excluded because no compatible controls were found. There was no statistical difference between cases and controls concerning age, sex and complexity. The hospitalization period in the Intensive Care Unit was wider in the cases (340 hours) than the controls (119,8 hours) (p=0,010). The case’s average expense was US$ 96.603,30 and US$ 24.965,07 for the controls (p=0,001). The mortality was similar in both groups. Conclusion: The impact from a catheter related bloodstream infection was significant in prolonging the stay at the Intensive Care Unit and increasing the hospital ‘costs. Investing in the prevention of healthcare associated infections contributes for the quality of hospital care and can propitiate a meaningful reduction of expenses resulting from care.