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Infection risk 20% higher in pediatric ICUs

Consumer Reports ranks pediatric ICUs based on infection rates

Topics: Infection Control, Quality, Performance Improvement

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January 27, 2012

Pediatric ICUs report 20% more central-line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) than their adult counterparts, according to a report from the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center.

Using state reports and data provided by Leapfrog, Consumer Reports researchers assessed 2010 infection rates at 92 pediatric ICUs across 31 states and the District of Columbia. They rated each pediatric ICU based on its CLABSI rate. The full list is available here.

Overall, Consumer Reports researchers found that pediatric ICUs average 1.8 CLABSIs per 1,000 central line days. In comparison, national data in 2009 showed that adult ICUs averaged 1.5 CLABSIs per 1,000 central line days.

• The Advisory Board's Quality Compass helped one hospital decrease CLABSI rates by up to 60%.

Only five pediatric ICUs included in the report reported zero CLABSIs in 2010, earning them Consumer Reports' top pediatric ICU infection rating. Those ICUs were:

• Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota and St. Paul;
• Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston);
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (New Brunswick, N.J.);
• Tulane Medical Center (New Orleans); and
• University Medical Center (Las Vegas). 

Meanwhile, 26 of the facilities received poor infection ratings. In fact, some pediatric ICUs reported as many as 7.2 CLABSIs per 1,000 central line days, four times more than the national average for adult ICUs.

"These are serious infections that can lead to the death of a patient and are preventable," says Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center Director John Santa. CDC data shows that 12,000 to 28,000 CLABSIs occurred in ICUs in 2009. About 25% of those cases were fatal.

Santa also notes that more than half of the country's 400 pediatric ICUs do not make their infection data publicly available. "We are very concerned that hospitals are not sharing their data," he says (McCarthy, Consumer Reports News, 1/26; Consumer Reports report, January 2012; Carollo, ABC News, 1/26).  

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