Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2008
Impact of rapid screening tests on acquisition of meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus: cluster randomised crossover trial.
Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rapid versus standard antimicrobial susceptibility testing to guide treatment of bloodstream infection.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review of transmission dynamic studies of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in non-hospital residential facilities.BMC infectious diseases · 2018Pooled it
- Dutch guideline on the laboratory detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2014Guideline
- Transmission rates, screening methods and costs of MRSA--a systematic literature review related to the prevalence in Germany.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2012Pooled it
- Clinical effectiveness of rapid tests for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hospitalized patients: a systematic review.BMC infectious diseases · 2011Pooled it
- Trial
- Selecting the optimal longitudinal cluster randomized design with a continuous outcome: Parallel-arm, crossover, or stepped-wedge.Statistical methods in medical research · 2025Article
- Optimal designs using generalized estimating equations in cluster randomized crossover and stepped wedge trials.Statistical methods in medical research · 2024Article
- Liquid and Dry Swabs for Culture- and PCR-Based Detection of Colonization with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus during Admission Screening.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2019Article
- Rapid screening and early precautions for carbapenem-resistantAntimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2019Article
- Point-of-care universal screening for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: a cluster-randomized cross-over trial.The Journal of hospital infection · 2017Article
- Screening for Methicillin-resistantJournal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2017Article
- Decolonization in Prevention of Health Care-Associated Infections.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2016Review
- [Molecular diagnosis of methicillin-resistent Staphylococcus aureus: Methods and efficacy].Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift fur Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete · 2016Article
- Staphylococcus aureus with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin in healthcare settings.Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2014Review
- A selected screening programme was less effective in the detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonisation in an orthopaedic unit.International orthopaedics · 2014Article
- Molecular-based diagnostics, including future trends.Medicine (Abingdon, England : UK ed.) · 2013Review
- Article
- Estimating the effectiveness of isolation and decolonization measures in reducing transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospital general wards.American journal of epidemiology · 2013Article
- The national one week prevalence audit of universal meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) admission screening 2012.PloS one · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine whether introducing a rapid test for meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening leads to a reduction in MRSA acquisition on hospital general wards.
designCluster randomised crossover trial.
settingMedical, surgical, elderly care, and oncology wards of a London teaching hospital on two sites.
main outcome measureMRSA acquisition rate (proportion of patients negative for MRSA who became MRSA positive).
participantsAll patients admitted to the study wards who were MRSA negative on admission and screened for MRSA on discharge.
interventionRapid polymerase chain reaction based screening test for MRSA compared with conventional culture.
resultsOf 9608 patients admitted to study wards, 8374 met entry criteria and 6888 had full data (82.3%); 3335 in the control arm and 3553 in the rapid test arm. The overall MRSA carriage rate on admission was 6.7%. Rapid tests led to a reduction in median reporting time from admission, from 46 to 22 hours (P<0.001). Rapid testing also reduced the number of inappropriate pre-emptive isolation days between the control and intervention arms (399 v 277, P<0.001). This was not seen in other measurements of resource use. MRSA was acquired by 108 (3.2%) patients in the control arm and 99 (2.8%) in the intervention arm. When predefined confounding factors were taken into account the adjusted odds ratio was 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.61 to 1.234). Rates of MRSA transmission, wound infection, and bacteraemia were not statistically different between the two arms.
conclusionA rapid test for MRSA led to the quick receipt of results and had an impact on bed usage. No evidence was found of a significant reduction in MRSA acquisition and on these data it is unlikely that the increased costs of rapid tests can be justified compared with alternative control measures against MRSA.
trial registrationClinical controlled trials ISRCTN75590122 [controlled-trials.com].
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.