Peripherally inserted central catheter-related bloodstream infections in patients with hematological malignancies: A retrospective 7-years single-center study

•Previous bloodstream infections (BSI) and a higher number of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) insertions are associated with an increased risk of central catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI).•A lack of chronic comorbidities may help prevent CRBSI.•There is no significant difference in the characteristics of infections between the different BSI categories. We sought to investigate the nature and incidence of bloodstream infection complications and to identify the risk factors of central catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI). During the study period, 291 consecutive patients with hematological malignancies who underwent PICC placement were retrospectively enrolled. We analyzed the covariates that were specified a priori for their association with CRBSI through multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models. The association between each predictor and the related outcome was expressed using hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Of 391 peripherally inserted central catheter (PICCs) were inserted in 291 patients for a total of 63,714 catheter days during 7 years, with an infection rate of 0.71/1,000 catheter days. Among the patients with hematological malignancies, those with acute leukemia were prone to CRBSI. Having previous bloodstream infection (BSI) (HR 18.139; 95% CI, 8.19-40.174; P < .0001), the number of PICCs insertions (HR 4.695; 95% CI, 1.842-11.967; P = .001) (twice), (HR 6.794; 95% CI, 1.909-24.181; P = .003) (≥3 times) were significantly associated with CRBSI. Not accompanied by chronic comorbidities (HR 0.34; 95% CI, 0.131-0.887; P = .028) and longer duration of PICC use (days) (HR 0.997; 95% CI, 0.994-0.999; P = .008) might be protective factors preventing CRBSI. Our finding suggests that previous BSI and a higher number of PICC insertions are associated with an increased risk of CRBSI. A lack of chronic comorbidities may help prevent CRBSI.