Blood culture contamination in hospitalized pediatric patients: a single institution experience

Purpose: Blood culture is the most important tool for detecting bacteremia in children with fever. How ever, blood culture contamination rates range from 0.6 % to 6.0 % in adults; rates for young children have been considered higher than these, although data are limited, especially in Korea. This study deter mined the contamination rate and risk factors in pediatric patients visiting the emergency room (ER) or being admitted to the ward. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of blood cultures obtained from children who visited Yonsei Severance Hospital, Korea between 2006 and 2010. Positive blood cultures were labeled as true bacteremia or contamination according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Healthcare Safety Network definitions for laboratoryconfirmed bloodstream infection, after exclusion of cultures drawn from preexisting central lines only. Results: Among 40,542 blood cultures, 610 were positive, of which 479 were contaminations and 131 were true bacteremia (overall contamination rate, 1.18%). The contamination rate in the ER was signifi cantly higher than in the ward (1.32 % vs. 0.66%, P<0.001). The rate was higher in younger children (2.07%, 0.94%, and 0.61 % in children aged <1 year, 1–6 years, and>6 years, respectively). Conclusion: Overall, contamination rates were higher in younger children than in older children, give