Comparison of Blood Culture Contamination Rates Between Initial Central Venous Puncture and Catheter Hub Sampling
Authors' conclusion
Initial central venous blood culture sampling before CVC insertion is a simple approach that does not generate additional costs and may reduce contamination while preserving accurate pathogen detection
Study context
- Population
- Critically ill patients requiring CVC placement, 5 surgical ICUs of a tertiary care university hospital, November 2024 to July 2025
- Participants
- 228 paired samples
- Exposure
- Initial central venous puncture sampling vs CVC wire hub sampling
- Outcome
- Blood culture contamination
Methodological detailspaired sampling, multicentre (5 surgical ICUs)
- Paired sampling
- Multicentre (5 surgical ICUs)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Initial central venous sampling vs Catheter wire hub samplingAbsolute risk difference, percentage points (95% CI)
Blood culture contamination
−10.6(−25.6% to −5.4%)
Initial central venous sampling vs Catheter wire hub samplingEstimate (95% CI)P value
Blood culture contamination
RR 0.25(0.12–0.53)
Blood culture contamination
OR 0.22(0.10–0.49)
P < 0.001- Procedures to prevent one contamination
- NNT 10 (95% CI 6–18)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
- Detection of true pathogens comparable between techniques
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Comparison of Blood Culture Contamination Rates Between Initial Central Venous Puncture and Catheter Hub Sampling. Crit Care Med. Published 22 May 2026. doi:10.
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