Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31820032›Full record

ReviewIntensive care medicine2020

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) in critically ill patients: a narrative review.

Bastiaan H J Wittekamp, Evelien A N Oostdijk, Brian H Cuthbertson, Christian Brun-Buisson, Marc J M Bonten

Open access · hybridAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Intensive care medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
7.1field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis in polytrauma patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2025
    Pooled it
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  7. A cost-effectiveness analysis of selective decontamination of the digestive tract in mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit.Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine · 2026
    Article
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  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
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  15. Review
  16. Article
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  19. Does selective digestive decontamination (SDD) increase antibiotic resistance? Long-term comparison of two intensive care units (with and without SDD) of the same tertiary hospital.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2024
    Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Bastiaan H J WittekampDepartment of Intensive Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. b.h.j.wittekamp@umcutrecht.nl.
Evelien A N OostdijkDepartment of Intensive Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Brian H CuthbertsonDepartment of Critical Care Medicine, University Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Christian Brun-BuissonBiostatistics, Biomathematics, Pharmacoepidemiology and Infectious Diseases (B2PHI), Inserm UVSQ, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Marc J M BontenDepartment of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-9095-9201
Utrecht University · NLInserm · FRUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) is an infection prevention measure for intensive care unit (ICU) patients that was proposed more than 30 years ago, and that is currently considered standard of care in the Netherlands, but only used sporadically in ICUs in other countries. In this narrative review, we first describe the rationale of the individual components of SDD and then review the evidence base for patient-centered outcomes, where we distinguish ICUs with low prevalence of antibiotic resistance from ICUs with moderate-high prevalence of resistance. In settings with low prevalence of antibiotic resistance, SDD has been associated with improved patient outcome in three cluster-randomized studies. These benefits were not confirmed in a large international cluster-randomized study in settings with moderate-to-high prevalence of antibiotic resistance. There is no evidence that SDD increases antibiotic resistance. We end with future directions for research.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsCritical IllnessDecontaminationDrug Resistance, BacterialGastrointestinal TractHumansIntensive Care UnitsNetherlandsAnti-Bacterial AgentsAntibiotic resistanceInfection preventionSelective decontamination

Identifiers

PMID31820032
PMCPMC7042187
OpenAlexW2993645243

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.