Different catheter lock solutions (CLSs) are used to reduce catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) for paediatric patients with central venous catheters (CVCs), but the most effective CLS is unknown.

To compare the effectiveness of different CLSs for the prevention of CRBSI in paediatric patients.

Potential studies were searched and selected through the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library up to May 2021. Randomized controlled trials that assessed the effects of CLSs for preventing CRBSI in paediatric patients were included. We performed a random-effects network meta-analysis to estimate risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Thirteen studies comprising 1335 patients were included in the network meta-analysis. Taurolidine + heparin was effective in the prevention of CRBSI compared with heparin in paediatric patients (RR: 0.21, 95% CI: 0.09–0.51). No significant difference was found between the other CLSs (such as vancomycin, ethanol, fusidic acid, amikacin, and amikacin and vancomycin) and heparin or between different intervention lock solutions for CRBSI prevention. Based on the surface under the cumulative ranking curve, taurolidine + heparin (85.3%) appeared to be the most effective solution for effectiveness on CRBSI prevention, followed by fusidic acid + heparin (77.0%) and amikacin + heparin (65.7%). There was no statistical global inconsistency among the included studies after design by treatment test (χ² = 2.22, P=0.137).

The study showed that taurolidine lock solution seemed to be the most effective for the prevention of CRBSI in paediatric patients. Well-designed randomized trials in paediatric patients are needed to provide more reliable evidence in the effectiveness of different CLSs.