The secondary endpoint of oropharyngeal colonization was evaluated for 87% of all patient days. CHX and CHX + COL were similarly effective for gram-positive bacteria when compared to placebo, with 30% and 27% reduction in rates of colonization, respectively: HR 0.695 for CHX (95% CI, 0.606, 0.796; p < 0.001) and 0.732 (95% CI, 0.640, 0.838; p < 0.001) for CHX + COL. The CHX + COL combination was more effective for gram-negative bacteria: daily HR .534 (95% CI, 0.455, 0.626; p <0.001) alone with a 47% reduction in gram-negative colonization compared to CHX.
No difference was seen in ICU mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, or duration of ICU stay. One adverse event (tongue swelling) occurred in the CHX + COL group.
Limitations of the study include the following:
- Daily assessments on all patients were not performed;
- The placebo group had more males and more infections on admission than the other two groups, raising the question of randomization error;
- Clinical versus quantitative diagnosis of pneumonia may overestimate VAP in this study;
- It is not known how many patients were not enrolled in the study due to short anticipated ventilator times, but who later had prolonged ventilations; and
- The lack of effect on ventilator time, ICU length of stay, and mortality raises the question of the significance of these findings.
Despite these limitations, the low cost of these treatments, minimal adverse events, low risk of promoting significant antimicrobial resistance, and the finding of decreased VAP and bacterial colonization risk shown in this study support the potential benefit of topical decontamination with CHX and COL in conjunction with other measures of VAP prevention. TH
Reference
- De Riso AJ II, Ladowski JS, Dillon TA, et al. Chlorhexidine gluconate 0.12% oral rinse reduces the incidence of total nosocomial respiratory infection and nonprophylactic systemic antibiotic use in patients undergoing heart surgery. Chest. 1996;109:1556-1561.