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Effectiveness of Chlorhexidine oral decontamination in reducing the incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia: A meta-analysis. Full Text
British Journal of Medical Practitioners, 05/07/2012
Evidence Based Medicine
Clinical Article
Balamurugan E et al. – The safety profile regarding the possible selection and induction of antibiotic resistance and presumed cost benefits of Chlorhexidine make it a highly attractive intervention for the prevention of Ventilator–associated pneumonia (VAP). This meta–analysis indicated that chlorhexidine can serve as a cost–effective and safe antiseptic in preventing VAP in mechanically ventilated patients.
Methods- An extensive literaturereview was conducted using the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, Joanna Briggs Institute, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and the Google search engine.
- Retrieved articles were selected based on the methodological quality, inclusion criteria and analysed to find the pooled effect size.
- The nine trials included in this meta–analysis revealed a significant reduction in the incidence of VAP among patients who received prophylactic oral decontamination with Chlorhexidine.
- However no significant effect was found in reducing overall mortality rate among the mechanically ventilated patients.