Thrombus Formation and Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter-Related Infection: A Retrospective Observational Study.
Xihua Bei, Qiong Wei, Mengying Wu and 3 others
PMID 42612079WHAT IT FOUND
In PICC patients, recorded thrombus was associated with catheter-related infection.
Nurses should monitor for both, but this does not prove thrombus causes infection or that any preventive action works.
Key findings
01Of 147 patients with PICCs, 31 (21.1%) had recorded catheter-related infection.
02Recorded thrombus was associated with catheter-related infection in multivariable logistic regression (OR 4.185, 95% CI 1.625 to 11.411, p 0.004).
03Female gender was associated with lower odds of catheter-related infection (OR 0.376, 95% CI 0.155 to 0.904, p 0.030).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Retrospective single-centre design and relatively small sample size limit causal inference and generalizability. Infection status was taken from records and not independently adjudicated; bloodstream, exit-site, and tunnel infections were not separated, so misclassification is possible. Important PICC details such as dwell time, indication, insertion site, number of lumens, and catheter type were unavailable, leaving residual confounding possible. Missing covariate data were single-imputed without sensitivity analysis, which may understate uncertainty. Patients with severe immunodeficiency or several systemic diseases were excluded, so results may not apply to immunocompromised groups. The study did not establish the time sequence between thrombus and infection and did not evaluate specific nursing interventions.
Declared interests
The authors report no funding and declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that thrombus causes catheter-related infection or that treating thrombus will prevent infection. This was a retrospective observational study without independent infection adjudication, temporal sequence, or tested nursing interventions.