Photo Credit: Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeen

The following is a summary of “Central-venous-catheter-related bloodstream infections in adult patients with sickle cell disease: a retrospective, two-centre study,” published in the February 2025 issue of European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases by Holub et al. 

Catheter-related infections are the primary cause of bloodstream infections in individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD), yet data on this issue in adults remain limited.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to describe central-venous-catheter-related bloodstream infections in individuals with SCD and to identify associated risk factors.  

They examined adults with SCD diagnosed with central-venous-catheter-related bloodstream infections between 2011 and 2023 at 2 SCD reference centers. Each individual with SCD and a bloodstream infection related to a totally implantable venous access port was matched with 2 control individuals with SCD and an infection-free, totally implantable venous access port.  

The results showed 35 (6.6%) of 534 individuals experienced 69 central-venous-catheter-related bloodstream infections. Vaso-occlusive crises were present in 81.2% of the infections. The 30-day mortality rate was 2.8%, and the infection recurrence rate was 45.7%. A total of 26 bloodstream infections related to totally implantable venous access ports occurred in 19 individuals, with an incidence rate of 0.31 per 1000 catheter-days. After adjustment, frequent hospital admissions for vaso-occlusive crises (odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval (CI)] = 1.6 [1.2–2.4]) and psychiatric comorbidities (19.8 [4.0–148.1]) were significantly associated with the infections. Suboptimal antibiotic levels were found in 5 (39%) of 13 patients undergoing therapeutic drug monitoring, with treatment failure observed in 4 (80%) of the 5 patients presenting with glomerular hyperfiltration.  

Investigators concluded that central-venous-catheter-related bloodstream infections in adults with SCD were linked to psychiatric comorbidities and severe SCD. 

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10096-024-05035-y