Objectives:

To identify the risk factors associated with central venous catheter infection in the intensive care unit through a literature review.

Method:

Descriptive and retrospective literature review of documents published by scientific societies, research papers, and scientific articles. The Google Scholar, SciELO, PubMed, and Web of Science databases were used with the keywords: central venous catheter, catheter infection, bacteraemia.

Results:

It was found that infections associated with central venous catheters represent the third leading cause of hospital-acquired infections (14% of all nosocomial infections). The most significant risk factors include: catheter dwell time (especially >5 days), insertion site (right subclavian vein), catheter type (double lumen), contamination at the entry site and connections. The most frequently isolated microorganism was coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. The departments with the highest incidence were the Intensive Care Unit (37.7-80%), followed by Nephrology (74%) and Haematology (66%).