Background: Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) via central venous catheters has improved nutrient delivery to patients unable to receive nutrition enterally, but its administration can be complicated by bacteremia and fungemia.
Methods: At a large tertiary-care academic medical center, 245 patients with concurrent positive blood cultures, among 1,716 adult patients who received TPN over a period of three consecutive years, were divided into those in whom parenteral nutrition was continued and those in whom it was stopped after the occurrence of a positive blood culture. To determine whether continuation of TPN after a positive blood culture was associated with a statistically significantly longer hospitalization than with its discontinuation after a positive blood culture, we performed a logistic regression analysis with step-wise selection, with parenteral nutrition status as the dependent variable and type of venous access, type of pathogen responsible for a positive blood culture, recurrence of a positive blood culture, respiratory failure, shock, and length of stay as covariates.