Chlorhexidine Systematic Review

[Matthias Maiwald (KKH)]

Dear All,

Greetings from Singapore. I would like to follow up on several previous posts on the AICA/ACIPC forum concerning skin antisepsis, and some of the issues that were discussed in those posts.

We just published a systematic review on this topic:

http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044277

Effectively, we are showing that the often-proclaimed “evidence for chlorhexidine” in skin antisepsis is in significant parts (but not exclusively) a product of human perception whereby authors take clinical trial outcomes obtained with the use of the combination of alcohol plus chlorhexidine, attribute study outcomes solely to the chlorhexidine component and conclude that chlorhexidine (implying: “per se”) is the agent supported by evidence.

This phenomenon has been occurring on a significant scale at all levels of evidence gathering and assessment, including primary clinical trials, systematic reviews, clinical practice recommendations and evidence-based guidelines.

In contrast, there is very little factual evidence supporting chlorhexidine per se as a substance.

Best regards, Matthias.

—
Matthias Maiwald, MD, FRCPA
Consultant in Microbiology
Adj. Assoc. Prof., Natl. Univ. Singapore
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
100 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 229899
Tel. +65 6394 8725 (Office)
Tel. +65 6394 1389 (Laboratory)
Fax +65 6394 1387

[cid:kkh29.gif]kkh

________________________________
The information contained in this e-mail and the attachments (if any) may be privileged and confidential and is intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not print, retain copy, disseminate, distribute, or use this e-mail or any part thereof. Please notify the sender immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete all copies of this e-mail and the attachments.

Messages posted to this list are solely the opinion of the authors, and do not represent the opinion of ACIPC.

Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives – registration and login required.

Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new message send an email to aicalist@aicalist.org.au

To send a message to the list administrator send an email to aicalist-request@aicalist.org.au.

You can unsubscribe from this list be sending ‘signoff aicalist’ (without the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au

[Author]

Posts