title: Gender disparity in failure rate for arterial catheter attempts.
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.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY 10003, USA. leisen@gmail.com
authors.forename: Lewis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Eisen
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sekiguchi
authors.forename: Paul H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Mayo
authors.forename: Mangala
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Narasimhan
mesh_terms: D002406:Catheterization, Peripheral / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors