CLABSI statistics at a glance
CLABSI statistics show a long-running decline in many hospital settings, but the pattern is not flat or uniform.
The latest CDC reporting gives you a useful split view: 2024 improvements across acute care and wards, a near-national sweep of better state performance, and a few still-troublesome pockets in long-term acute care settings (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
Fast facts
- Acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs fell 9% in 2024 versus 2023 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- ICU CLABSI SIRs fell 10% in 2024 versus 2023 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- Ward CLABSI SIRs fell 9% in 2024 versus 2023 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- The 2024 HAI report includes CLABSI data from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- CDC included 2024 CLABSI data reported to NHSN through June 1, 2025 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
Table of contents
- What the latest CLABSI statistics show
- 2024 CLABSI statistics by care setting
- State-level CLABSI statistics in 2024
- How the trend changed from 2014 to 2024
- Why the CLABSI statistics matter for hospitals
What the latest CLABSI statistics show
The strongest message in the newest CLABSI statistics is directional consistency. In the CDC’s 2024 progress report, acute care hospitals, ICUs, and wards all moved in the same direction: down.
That matters because CLABSI performance is rarely one-dimensional. A facility can improve in one unit while still carrying pressure in another, and the CDC’s summary makes that visible across settings rather than hiding it inside a single national average (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
Big number: 46 states had acute care hospital CLABSI performance better than the 2015 baseline in 2024 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
At the same time, the data also show that improvement is not universal. One state still performed worse than the 2015 baseline for acute care hospital CLABSI in 2024, and long-term acute care hospitals had a less favorable spread than acute care hospitals overall (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
2024 CLABSI statistics by care setting
The cleanest way to read the 2024 numbers is by setting. Acute care hospitals, ICUs, and wards all improved, but the degree of improvement and the spread of state performance are not identical.
| Care setting | 2024 change vs. 2023 | State-level performance in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Acute care hospitals | 9% decrease in CLABSI SIRs | 46 states better than the 2015 baseline; 1 state worse (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| ICU | 10% decrease in CLABSI SIRs | Included in acute care reporting summary (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Ward | 9% decrease in CLABSI SIRs | Included in acute care reporting summary (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Inpatient rehabilitation facilities | Not stated as a 2024 percent change in the source dataset | 8 states better than the 2015 baseline; 0 states worse (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Long-term acute care hospitals | Not stated as a 2024 percent change in the source dataset | 11 states better than the 2015 baseline; 4 states worse (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
Acute care hospitals
Acute care hospitals delivered the broadest positive signal in the 2024 CLABSI statistics. The CDC reported a 9% decrease in acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs in 2024 versus 2023 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
That reduction is important because acute care is the most visible part of the surveillance picture. It also anchors the state-level comparisons: 46 states were better than the 2015 baseline, leaving just 1 state worse than that benchmark (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
A practical reading of that pattern is that the national picture improved while most states also stayed on the favorable side of the baseline.
ICU CLABSI statistics
The ICU result was even stronger than the broader acute care average. ICU CLABSI SIRs fell 10% in 2024 versus 2023 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
That matters because ICU lines are typically among the highest-risk contexts in infection prevention work. When the ICU line moves down faster than the broader acute care total, it suggests gains are not limited to the easiest-to-improve patient groups.
Ward CLABSI statistics
Ward CLABSI SIRs also declined by 9% in 2024 versus 2023 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
That parallel movement with acute care hospitals overall is worth noting. It means the gains were not confined to intensive care. Instead, they also reached ward settings, which often represent a different mix of patient acuity, staffing pressure, and line management routines.
Inpatient rehabilitation facilities
Inpatient rehabilitation facilities show a smaller but still favorable state-level picture in the 2024 CDC summary. 8 states had CLABSI performance better than the 2015 baseline, and no state was worse than the baseline (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
That combination is unusual in a good way: every state in the category that appears in the report is on the better side of the benchmark.
Long-term acute care hospitals
Long-term acute care hospitals are the clearest reminder that the national CLABSI story still has rough edges. In 2024, 11 states had better CLABSI performance than the 2015 baseline, but 4 states were worse than the baseline (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
That spread is wider than the inpatient rehabilitation facility result and suggests more variation in how CLABSI prevention is playing out across this setting.
State-level CLABSI statistics in 2024
The CDC’s state data are useful because they show not just whether the country improved, but how broadly the improvement was distributed.
2024 state snapshot
| State-level summary | Count |
|---|---|
| Acute care hospital CLABSI performance better than 2015 baseline | 46 states (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Acute care hospital CLABSI performance worse than 2015 baseline | 1 state (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Inpatient rehabilitation facility performance better than 2015 baseline | 8 states (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Inpatient rehabilitation facility performance worse than 2015 baseline | 0 states (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Long-term acute care hospital performance better than 2015 baseline | 11 states (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
| Long-term acute care hospital performance worse than 2015 baseline | 4 states (CDC Current HAI Progress Report) |
Why the state counts matter
A count like 46 states better than baseline is stronger than a simple national average because it tells you improvement is geographically broad, not confined to a few high-performing regions (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
The same logic applies to the long-term acute care result. The mix of 11 better and 4 worse shows that there is still meaningful state-to-state variation in that setting, even though the overall direction of the country’s CLABSI work is positive.
Cross-infection summaries that include CLABSI
The CDC also reported broader infection summaries that help place CLABSI in context with other healthcare-associated infections.
- 23 states performed better on at least two infection types in 2024 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- 5 states performed better on at least three infection types in 2024 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- 6 states performed better on at least four infection types in 2024 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- 28 states performed worse on at least two infection types in 2024 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- 11 states performed worse on at least three infection types in 2024 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
Those cross-infection counts matter because CLABSI prevention does not exist in isolation. If a state is improving across multiple infection categories, that can point to stronger infection prevention systems rather than one narrow intervention.
How the trend changed from 2014 to 2024
CLABSI statistics make more sense when you look at the longer arc, not just the latest year. The dataset includes a useful sequence that shows how the numbers changed across surveillance and rebaseline periods.
A short historical timeline
| Year or period | CLABSI statistic | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 3,655 hospitals reported CLABSI data to CDC’s NHSN | CDC 2015 SIR Report |
| 2014 | Acute care hospitals reported 17,758 CLABSI events | CDC Vital Signs: Preventing Antibiotic-Resistant Infections in Hospitals, 2014 |
| 2014 | Acute care hospital CLABSI SIR was 0.495 | CDC Vital Signs: Preventing Antibiotic-Resistant Infections in Hospitals, 2014 |
| 2015 | 3,935 hospitals reported CLABSI data to CDC’s NHSN | CDC 2015 SIR Report |
| 2015 | Acute care hospitals reported 27,313 CLABSI events | CDC 2015 SIR Report |
| 2015 | National CLABSI SIR was 0.603 | CDC 2015 SIR Report |
| 2018 | Acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs fell about 9% versus 2017 | CDC 2018 HAI Progress Report |
| 2020 | Acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs increased about 24% versus 2019 | CDC 2020 HAI Progress Report |
| 2021 | Acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs fell 7% versus 2020 | CDC 2021 HAI Progress Report |
| 2024 | Acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs fell 9% versus 2023 | CDC Current HAI Progress Report |
What the timeline suggests
The timeline is not a straight line. It includes improvement years, a pandemic-era increase, and a more recent recovery.
A few points stand out:
- 2015 was a rebaseline year, and the 2015 CLABSI SIR was 21.8% higher than 2014 because of the rebaseline and definition change, even though it still represented a 40% decrease versus the 2006-2008 baseline (CDC 2015 SIR Report).
- From 2008 to 2012, the CLABSI standardized infection ratio in hospital settings declined from 1.00 to 0.56, while observed CLABSI events declined at an average of 14.1% per year (CDC National Health Report, 2005-2013).
- In 2020, acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs increased about 24% versus 2019, and ICU CLABSI SIRs increased about 50% versus 2019 (CDC 2020 HAI Progress Report).
- In 2021, acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs fell 7% versus 2020, but CDC still said quarterly CLABSI SIRs remained higher than 2019Q2 levels (CDC 2021 HAI Progress Report).
- By 2024, the acute care hospital result showed another 9% decrease versus 2023 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
The bigger takeaway is that the CLABSI trend line has been resilient but interrupted. Improvement has returned, but the record still reflects how external strain can affect infection prevention performance.
CLABSI statistics on reporting volume and surveillance coverage
The data set also shows the scale of surveillance behind the numbers. These are not tiny samples.
- More than 38,000 active hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare facilities provide data to NHSN, supporting CLABSI surveillance (CDC 2021 HAI Progress Report).
- The 2021 HAI report included CLABSI data for 4 facility types: acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term acute care hospitals (CDC 2021 HAI Progress Report).
- The 2024 HAI report included CLABSI data from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- CDC included 2024 CLABSI data reported to NHSN through June 1, 2025 (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
Why surveillance scale matters
When you see CLABSI statistics across many facility types and geographic areas, the numbers are more useful for benchmarking.
That scale also helps explain why yearly changes can be meaningful even when they look small. A 9% decline in acute care hospital CLABSI SIRs, or a 10% decline in ICU SIRs, is not happening in a narrow corner of the system; it is appearing inside a broad national surveillance network (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
CLABSI benchmark details and device-use context
The dataset includes a few older but still relevant benchmark details that help interpret the surveillance history.
Device use and pathogen context
- In 2015, the unadjusted central line device utilization ratio was 0.23, meaning 23% of patient days had a central line in place (CDC 2015 SIR Report).
- In 2014, the unadjusted central line device utilization was 25% of patient days (CDC 2015 SIR Report).
- In 2015, 11% more CLABSI reports involved at least one yeast pathogen than in 2014 (CDC 2015 SIR Report).
- In 2015, all yeast species combined represented 5,547 of 33,410 CLABSI pathogens, or 16.6% (CDC 2015 SIR Report).
- In 2014, all yeast species combined represented 3,294 of 22,014 CLABSI pathogens, or 15.0% (CDC 2015 SIR Report).
These figures are useful because CLABSI is not just a ratio on a dashboard. It reflects line exposure, patient risk, and the organism mix behind the infections.
2015 reporting expansion
The CDC also noted that CMS expanded CLABSI reporting in 2015 to include adult and pediatric medical, surgical, and medical/surgical wards (CDC 2015 SIR Report).
That kind of reporting expansion matters because it broadens the comparison pool. As surveillance expands, the trend line becomes more representative, but it can also become harder to compare casually from one year to the next without paying attention to definitions and scope.
What the CLABSI statistics mean for infection prevention work
The strongest reading of the dataset is simple: CLABSI control improved in 2024, but the improvement sits on top of a longer, uneven history.
The data point to three practical takeaways:
- Acute care hospitals, ICUs, and wards all improved in 2024, which suggests the progress was broad rather than isolated (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- State-level performance was widely favorable in acute care, with 46 states better than baseline, but the long-term acute care picture still showed more variability (CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
- The historical trend shows both sustained progress and disruption, including the 2020 increase and the 2024 recovery, so CLABSI surveillance still needs to be read as a system-level story rather than a single-year headline (CDC 2020 HAI Progress Report; CDC 2021 HAI Progress Report; CDC Current HAI Progress Report).
In other words, the numbers support cautious optimism, not complacency.