Background: To determine rate, microorganism profile, bacterial resistance, extra length of stay (LOS) and extra mortality of Central Line associated Bloodstream Infection (CLAB) in intensive care units (ICUs) of 23 countries in INICC hospitals in Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, India, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mexico, Morocco,, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Serbia, Thailand, Tunisia, and Turkey. Methods: An open label, prospective cohort, active device-associated infection (DAI) surveillance study was conducted on adult, pediatric and neonatal patients admitted to tertiary-care ICUs. DAI rates were collected from 166 ICUs, and were recorded by using CDC-NNIS definitions. Microorganism profile, bacterial resistance, LOS and mortality data were collected in 128 out of the 166 ICUs. Data were collected from patients with and without DAI using the INICC protocol, forms and methods, which provided researchers with a general view of patients' outcomes, allowing researchers to suspect DAI and avoid possible DAI omissions if no cultures were done. Patients with and without DAI can be matched to calculate LOS, costs, and extra mortality. Data were uploaded and analyzed at INICC office. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square test. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: We collected data from 01/02 to 11/08, representing 563,322 CL days. The pooled CLAB rate was 8.06 per 1000 CL days; data stratified by ICU type are shown in Table. Overall 17.1% of all CLAB were caused by Staphylococcus aureus (83.1% were MRSA); 17.1% by Coagulase-negative-staphylococci (80.1% were methicilin resistant); 13.9% by Acinetobacter sp (83.3% were Piperaciline-Tazobactam resistant); and 11.8% by Pseudomonas sp (42.2% were Imipenem resistant). The LOS of patients without DAI was 5.3 days; and of patients with CLAB, 16.7 days (RR, 3.14), representing 11.4 extra days. 7,464 out of 52,549 (14.2%) patients without any DAI died; 397 out of 1,305 patients (30.4%) with CLAB died, the extra mortality being 16.2% (RR, 2.14, 95% CI, 1.94–2.37, P, 0.0001). Conclusion: Pooled CLAB rate of 8.02 per 1000 CL days was higher than the 2.0 rate (medical surgical ICUs) per 1000 CL days published by CDC-NNIS. Patients with CLAB had a significantly higher LOS, with 11.4 extra days, and extra mortality of 16.2%. Abstracts for SupplementInternational Journal of Infectious DiseasesVol. 14Preview Full-Text PDF Open Archive