Comparison between infected and uninfected catheters
| Infection within 30 days | p Value | ||
| No (%) | Yes (%) | ||
| Catheter type | |||
| Plain | 149 (92.5) | 12 (7.5) | 0.314 |
| Antibiotic-impregnated | 174 (92.6) | 14 (7.4) | |
| Silver-bearing | 126 (86.3) | 20 (13.7) | |
| CSF sampling frequency | |||
| No sampling | 129 (100) | 0 (0) | <0.01 |
| 1–2 times per week | 211 (90.2) | 23 (9.8) | |
| Alternate days | 15 (62.5) | 9 (26.5) | |
| Daily | 3 (42.9) | 4 (57.1) | |
| Unknown | 91 (90.1) | 10 (9.9) | |
| Length of tunnelling | |||
| 0–5 cm | 106 (89.1) | 13 (10.9) | 0.71 |
| 5–10 cm | 328 (91.4) | 31 (8.6) | |
| >10 cm | 15 (88.2) | 2 (11.8) | |
| Primary surgeon | |||
| Intern/Foundation doctor | 4 (80.0) | 1 (20.0) | 0.25 |
| Junior neurosurgery trainee | 87 (89.7) | 10 (10.3) | |
| Senior neurosurgery trainee | 294 (89.9) | 33 (10.1) | |
| Consultant | 64 (97.0) | 2 (3.0) | |
| Duration of EVD use* | |||
| 0–7 days | 236 (95.9) | 10 (4.1) | <0.01 |
| 8+days | 212 (85.8) | 35 (14.2) | |
| CSF diversion | |||
| Permanent CSF diversion | 71 (91.0) | 7 (9.0) | 0.91 |
| No permanent diversion | 378 (90.6) | 39 (9.4) | |
Comparisons made using Χ2 test.
*Two cases excluded as no valid exit date.
CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; EVD, external ventricular drain.