Catheter-related infections: does the spectrum of microbial causes change over time? A nationwide surveillance study

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the incidence and epidemiology of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) on a national scale by using prospective epidemiological data from the Swiss Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance System (ANRESIS). DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: National surveillance from 2008 to 2015 of acute hospitals in Switzerland. PARTICIPANTS: We included acute Swiss hospitals that sent blood cultures and catheter tip culture results on a regular basis during the entire study period to the ANRESIS database. OUTCOME MEASURE: A catheter-related bloodstream infection (termed 'modified CRBSI', mCRBSI) was defined as isolating the same microorganism with identical antibiogram from ≥1 blood cultures (performed ±7 days around the catheter removal) as the one recovered from the catheter tip. Incidence rates of mCRBSI were calculated per 1000 admissions. RESULTS: From 2008 to 2015, the mCRBSI incidence rate decreased from 0.83 to 0.58 episodes/1000 admissions (-6% per year, p