Using two central venous catheters on one patient at the same time can significantly increase the risk of developing a central line-associated bloodstream infection, according to a study published March 4 in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers conducted the study at four general acute care hospitals in Atlanta from Jan. 1, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2017. They examined data for 50,254 patients.
In total, 64,575 central venous catheters were used and 647 CLABSIs were recorded.
Researchers found 74 of 3,932 patients (1.9 percent) with two catheters inserted at the same time developed CLABSI, as compared to 81 of 7,864 patients (1 percent) with only one catheter.
"These findings suggest that concurrent [central venous catheter] use is associated with nearly two-fold the risk of CLABSI compared with use of a single low-risk [central venous catheter]," study authors concluded.
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