1. Real-world experience of how chlorhexidine bathing affects the acquisition and incidence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in a medical intensive care unit with VRE endemicity: a prospective interrupted time-series study.
- Author
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Suh JW, Kim NH, Lee MJ, Lee SE, Chun BC, Lee CK, Lee J, Kim JH, Kim SB, Yoon YK, Sohn JW, and Kim MJ
- Subjects
- Acinetobacter Infections microbiology, Acinetobacter Infections prevention & control, Acinetobacter baumannii drug effects, Aged, Female, Humans, Incidence, Interrupted Time Series Analysis, Male, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus drug effects, Middle Aged, Non-Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Prospective Studies, Staphylococcal Infections microbiology, Staphylococcal Infections prevention & control, Tertiary Healthcare, Anti-Infective Agents, Local pharmacology, Baths methods, Chlorhexidine pharmacology, Critical Illness, Intensive Care Units statistics & numerical data, Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci drug effects
- Abstract
Background: Critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs) often acquire opportunistic infections or are colonized by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), which limits therapeutic options and results in high case-fatality rates. In clinical practice, the beneficial effects of universal chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing on the control of VRE remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether 2% CHG daily bathing reduced the acquisition of VRE in the setting of a medical ICU (MICU) with VRE endemicity., Methods: This quasi-experimental intervention study was conducted in a 23-bed MICU of a tertiary care hospital in Korea from September 2016 to December 2017. In a prospective, interrupted time-series analysis (ITS) with a 6-month CHG bathing intervention, we compared the acquisition and incidence of VRE and the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) between the pre-intervention and intervention periods. The primary and secondary outcomes were a change in the acquisition of VRE and incidence of VRE, MRSA, or CRAB between the two periods, respectively., Results: All the adult patients admitted to the MICU were enrolled in the pre-intervention (n = 259) and intervention (n = 242). The overall CHG daily bathing compliance rate was 72.5%. In the ITS, there was a significant intervention effect with a 58% decrease in VRE acquisition (95% CI 7.1-82.1%, p = 0.038) following the intervention. However, there was no significant intervention effects on the incidence trend of VRE, MRSA, and CRAB determined by clinical culture between the pre-intervention and intervention periods., Conclusion: In this real-world study, we concluded that daily bathing with CHG may be an effective measure to reduce VRE cross-transmission among patients in MICU with a high VRE endemicity., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2021
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