Infection rates associated with epidural indwelling catheters for seven days or longer: systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 3 Sensitivity analysis

		Larger studies Postoperative, noncancer		Smaller studies Predominantly cancer		Prospective cancer studies		Retrospective cancer studies
Infection	Outcome	patients	Result	patients	Result	patients	Result	patients	Result
Deep infection	Percent of patients	15/3125	0.48	42/1503	2.8	2/414	0.48	39/979	4.0
	Incidence per 1000 days		0.45		0.41		0.08		0.50
Superficial infection	Percent of patients	87/3125	2.8	107/1110	9.6	11/275	4.0	61/725	8.4
	Incidence per 1000 days		3.4		1.3		0.74		0.95
Overall infection	Percent of patients	114/3125	3.6	143/1110	13	11/275	4.0	74/725	10
	Incidence per 1000 days		4.3		1.8		0.74		1.2

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