Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40971845›Full record

ArticlePloS one2025

Hand hygiene after the COVID-19 pandemic: Is it still at a high level?

Jinqi Wang, Yaofei Liu, Neng Li, Yifen Zhu, Min Du, Xiaoman He

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Jinqi WangDepartment of infection prevention and control, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China.
Yaofei LiuKey Laboratory for Molecular Diagnosis of Hubei Province, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China.
Neng LiDepartment of infection prevention and control, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China.
Yifen ZhuDepartment of infection prevention and control, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China.
Min DuKey Laboratory for Molecular Diagnosis of Hubei Province, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China.
Xiaoman HeDepartment of infection prevention and control, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China.ORCID 0009-0002-3205-8074

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHand hygiene (HH) is crucial for preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), with compliance notably increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether this adherence can be sustained remains uncertain. We sought to assess changes in HH compliance following the pandemic and explore its correlation with HAIs.

methodsA longitudinal study was launched to assess HH compliance and HAIs across two phases. Phase 1 spanned from October 2021 to January 2023, a period of normalized prevention and control of COVID-19, while phase 2 extended from February 2023 to July 2024, following the downgrade in the management of COVID-19. Observers recorded HH practices. HAIs were identified through using semi-automated, continuous surveillance software. Pearson correlation coefficient (rs) was used to evaluate the relationship between HAIs and HH.

resultsA total of 2,233 HH opportunities were observed with 966 during Phase 1 and 1,267 in Phase 2. Compliance with HH significantly declined from 90.27% (95% CI: 85.34% to 95.4%) in Phase 1 to 82.56% (95% CI: 80.35% to 84.61%) in Phase 2 (P < 0.001). Concurrently, the incidence of HAI rose notably from 16.79‰ (95% CI: 16.20‰ to 17.39‰) to 18.71‰ (95% CI: 18.20‰ to 19.24‰) (P < 0.001). However, despite these concurrent trends, monthly analysis found no statistically significant correlation between HH compliance and HAI incidence (rs = -0.296; P = 0.0897).

conclusionsAs the pandemic threat waned, maintaining high HH compliance became challenging, indicating it's time to implement additional strategies. Moreover, the correlation between HH and HAI requires further study to uncover.

Indexed as

COVID-19Cross InfectionGuideline AdherenceHand HygieneHumansLongitudinal StudiesPandemicsSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID40971845
PMCPMC12448956

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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.