Peripherally inserted central catheters and the incidence of candidal sepsis in VLBW and ELBW infants: is sepsis increased?

BACKGROUND Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) have been widely used in neonatal clinics. However, the complications such as infection after PICC treatment are also confronting neonatologists especially in developing countries. This study was undertaken to investigate whether PICCs is a safe treatment for very low birth weight (VLBW) infants and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. METHODS Fifty-nine VLBW and ELBW infants receiving PICCs and 89 VLBW and ELBW infants receiving peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs) were included in this study. The incidence of sepsis and mortality were compared retrospectively between the two groups. RESULTS There was no difference in the total sepsis incidence and mortality between the PICCs and PIVCs groups (P=0.11 and P=0.61 respectively). However, the candidal sepsis incidence was higher in the PICCs group than in the PIVCs group [6/59 (10.2%) vs 2/89 (2.2%); P=0.044 (Exat Sig. 1-sided), OR=4.93, 95% CI 0.96-25.3]. CONCLUSION Placement and indwelling of PICCs are a potential risk factor for candidal sepsis among VLBW and ELBW infants.