The Risk of Bloodstream Infection in Adults With Different Intravascular Devices: A Systematic Review of 200 Published Prospective Studies

Expressing risk of IVD-related BSI per 1000 IVD-days rather than BSIs per 100 IVDs allows for more meaningful estimates of risk. These data, based on prospective studies in which every IVD in the study cohort was analyzed for evidence of infection by microbiologically based criteria, show that all types of IVDs pose a risk of IVD-related BSI and can be used for benchmarking rates of infection caused by the various types of IVDs in use at the present time. Since almost all the national effort and progress to date to reduce the risk of IVD-related infection have focused on short-term noncuffed CVCs used in intensive care units, infection control programs must now strive to consistently apply essential control measures and preventive technologies with all types of IVDs.