Incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infections following ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 2 Evidence summary

Assessment of certainty							No. of patients		Efficacy		Certainty of the evidence	Importance
No. of studies	Study design	Risk of bias	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Others	CRBSIs	Control	Relative index (95% CI)	Absolute index (95% CI)	Certainty of the evidence	Importance
CRBSIs
2	RCT	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Serious ^a	None	49/547 (9.0%)	82/547 (15.0%)	RR 0.46 (0.16 to 1.32)	81 fewer per 1,000 (126 fewer to 48 more)	⊕⊕⊕◯ Moderate	Critical
Catheter colonization
1	RCT	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Very serious ^b	None	9/36 (25.0%)	7/38 (18.4%)	RR 1.36 (0.57 to 3.26)	66 more per 1,000 (79 fewer to 416 more)	⊕⊕◯◯ Low	Important

CI: confidence interval; RR: relative risk; RCT: randomized controlled trial; CRBSIs: catheter related blood stream infections
Explanations
a. The sample size of 1094 met the optimal information size (OIS), however, the 95% confidence interval included both clinically meaningful thresholds for benefit and harm
b. The sample size of 74 did not meet the optimal information size (OIS), and the 95% confidence interval included both clinically meaningful thresholds for benefit and harm