Relative incidence of phlebitis associated with peripheral intravenous catheters in the lower versus upper extremities

Peripheral venous access in elderly, hospitalized patients is often challenging. The usual alternative is insertion of a central venous catheter, with associated risk for complications. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relative incidence of phlebitis secondary to lower as compa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2015-05, Vol.34 (5), p.913-916
Main Authors: Benaya, A., Schwartz, Y., Kory, R., Yinnon, A. M., Ben-Chetrit, E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Catheter-Related Infections - epidemiology
Catheterization, Peripheral - adverse effects
Catheters
Cohort Studies
Diabetes
Extremities
Female
Gender
Hospitals
Humans
Incidence
Infections
Internal Medicine
Lower Extremity - pathology
Male
Medical instruments
Medical Microbiology
Middle Aged
Obesity
Phlebitis
Phlebitis - epidemiology
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors
Upper Extremity - pathology
Veins & arteries
Venous access
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Peripheral venous access in elderly, hospitalized patients is often challenging. The usual alternative is insertion of a central venous catheter, with associated risk for complications. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relative incidence of phlebitis secondary to lower as compared to upper extremity intravenous catheters (IVCs) and associated risk factors. A non-randomized, observational, cohort-controlled study was carried out. Consecutive patients receiving a lower extremity IVC were enrolled and compared with patients receiving an upper extremity IVC. Patients were followed from insertion until removal of the IVC. The major endpoint was phlebitis. The incidence of phlebitis secondary to upper extremity IVCs was 3/50 (6 %) compared to 5/53 (9.4 %) in lower extremity IVCs (χ 2 Yates = 0.08, p  = 0.776). Age, gender, obesity, diabetes mellitus, site (arm versus leg, left versus right), and size of needle were not found to be risk factors for phlebitis according to univariate analysis. None of the patients developed bloodstream infection. In elderly patients with poor venous access, lower extremity IVCs are a reasonable and low-risk alternative to central venous catheters.
ISSN:0934-9723
1435-4373
DOI:10.1007/s10096-014-2304-7