Gender disparity in failure rate for arterial catheter attempts

Lewis A. Eisen, Taro Minami, Jeffrey S. Berger, Hiroshi Sekiguchi, Paul H. Mayo, Mangala Narasimhan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examined risk factors associated with failure of arterial catheterization in the medical intensive care unit of a large urban teaching hospital. We analyzed 92 consecutive arterial catheterizations by internal medicine house staff and critical care fellows. Of the 92 attempts, 26.1% were done on femoral arteries, and 73.9% were done on radial arteries. Failure, which occurred in 28% of attempts, was more common in female patients (P <.001). The failure rate was 50.0% for attempts on femoral arteries and 20.6% on radial arteries. Systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in patients where the attempt failed ( P =.024). In univariate analyses, hemoglobin values were lower (P =.028) and number of percutaneous punctures were higher (P =.019) in patients where catheterization failed. After multivariate analysis, only gender and systolic blood pressure remained statistically significant. The strongest predictor of failure was female gender. A possible explanation not explored here could be smaller arterial size in female patients.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)166-172
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Intensive Care Medicine
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2007

Keywords

  • Arterial catheterization
  • Education
  • Intensive care unit
  • Medical
  • Ultrasonography

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine

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