Central venous catheter infections: building a causal model with expert domain knowledge to inform future clinical trials.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Central venous catheters (CVCs) are essential for long-term therapies but carry a high risk of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), which significantly impact patient outcomes and healthcare costs. This study aimed to develop a causal model for CLABSI using expert knowledge to guide future clinical trials and prevention strategies.

Methods

We constructed a directed acyclic graph (DAG) informed by literature and expert knowledge elicitation. A multidisciplinary team of clinicians, including infectious disease and vascular access experts, participated in interviews and workshops to refine the DAG, resulting in a final model with 30 variables representing CLABSI development.

Findings

The expert-elicited DAG identified two main pathways, patient-r

SUBMITTER: Schults JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12506371 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature