SynthesisEpidemiology and infection2022
The effect of hand hygiene frequency on reducing acute respiratory infections in the community: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Epidemiology and infection, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Hand Hygiene Education Components Among First-Year Nursing Students: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Does influenza vaccination protect people with breakthrough infections from acute cardiovascular events?Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2026Article
- The impact of COVID-19 infection experience on risk perception and preventive behaviour: a cohort study.Epidemiology and infection · 2026Article
- Lifestyle factors or protective behaviors: which are more strongly associated with upper respiratory tract infections after COVID-19? A cross-sectional study of 1,535 Chinese college students.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Nonpharmacological interventions for managing infections in chronic respiratory diseases: a comprehensive overview.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2026Review
- Enhancing hand hygiene compliance in healthcare environmental services staff: a systematic approach to indicator development.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2025Article
- Using Social Media Platforms to Raise Health Awareness and Increase Health Education in Pakistan: Structural Equation Modeling Analysis and Questionnaire Study.JMIR human factors · 2025Article
- Equivalent reduction of Escherichia coli by rinsing hands with cold and warm water.GMS hygiene and infection control · 2024Article
- The impact of activating an empathic focus during COVID19 on healthcare workers motivation for hand hygiene compliance in moments serving the protection of others: a randomized controlled trial study.Zeitschrift fur Gesundheitswissenschaften = Journal of public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 7 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Hand hygiene is a simple, low-cost intervention that may lead to substantial population-level effects in suppressing acute respiratory infection epidemics. However, quantification of the efficacy of hand hygiene on respiratory infection in the community is lacking. We searched PubMed for randomised controlled trials on the effect of hand hygiene for reducing acute respiratory infections in the community published before 11 March 2021. We performed a meta-regression analysis using a Bayesian mixed-effects model. A total of 105 publications were identified, out of which six studies reported hand hygiene frequencies. Four studies were performed in household settings and two were in schools. The average number of handwashing events per day ranged from one to eight in the control arms, and four to 17 in the intervention arms. We estimated that a single hand hygiene event is associated with a 3% (80% credible interval (-1% to 7%)) decrease in the daily probability of an acute respiratory infection. Three of these six studies were potentially at high risk of bias because the primary outcome depended on self-reporting of upper respiratory tract symptoms. Well-designed trials with an emphasis on monitoring hand hygiene adherence are needed to confirm these findings.
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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.