Central Catheter Infection in Patients on Acute and Chronic Hemodialysis: A Cross Sectional Study

Background and aim: the most common complication of central venous catheter (cvc) in hemodialysis (hd) is infection. identifying cvc- related infection (cvc-ri) risk factors and causative micro - organisms is essential for setting prevention policies. this study aims to determine the prevalence of cvcris and identify any associated risk factors among these patients.methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study from 2017 to 2018 to determine the prevalence of central catheter - related infections among all adult patients on both acute and chronic hemodialysis who had central catheters in place at a tertiary care hospital in qazvin city. data on demographics, comorbidities, dialysis duration, catheter - related complications, catheter removal, dialysis details (frequency, duration), catheter insertion site, and any history of central catheter - related infections were collected from medical records. a central catheter - related infection is defined as a positive blood culture obtained from a central venous catheter tip or any other related site (e.g., tunnel, exit site) with clinical signs of infection such as fever, chills, or localized pain and tenderness. micro - organisms isolated from cultures of cvc, catheter tips, and blood cultures were identified. chi-square and t-test were performed to compare demographic and clinical variables. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. results: 171 patients (214 hospital admissions) enrolled in the study. of these hospital admissions, 91 (42.5%) had cvc-ri. there was no significant relationship between cvc-ri and age, gender, body mass index (bmi), marital status, education, residency, comorbidities, addiction, and etiology of kidney failure. variables such as smoking (p = 0.012), catheter type (p = 0.031), cvc location (p = 0.026), emergency catheter placement (p = 0.005), previous catheter history (p = 0.004), and number of previous catheter (p = 0.006), previous catheter infection history (p = 0.002), and antibiotic use in the recent month (p = 0.001) were associated with an increased cvc-ri. of the positive blood cultures, the majority were gram - positive bacteria. conclusion: cvc-ri in hd is high and smoking, cvc location, number of previous catheters and their infection history, and antibiotic use in the recent month are risk factors related to cvc-ri. education on proper hygiene for the prevention of cvc-ri is essential for patients that had no previous intravascular line. staphylococcus aureus must be taken into account for empirical therapy.