ReviewEuropean journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology2026
Does alternate-day bathing with 2% chlorhexidine improve clinical outcomes in critically ill patients? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the effect of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (2%CHG) bathing every other day on the number of infections, catheter-related bloodstream infections (CLABSI), average length of stay, and number of deaths.
methodsThis is a systematic review and meta-analysis. The searches and data extraction were performed by two independent authors in six databases in February 2026. We calculated Risk Ratios (RR) and Mean Difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals for all analyses.
resultsThree studies were eligible for inclusion, comprising one randomized study, one quasi-experimental study, and one observational study, with a total population of 4,943 patients. There was no statistically significant difference between the 2% CHG and the control group for CLABSI (RR 0.98 [95% CI: 0.72; 1.31], p = 0.87, I
conclusionGiven that only three studies were available for inclusion and that the certainty of evidence ranged from low to very low, no definitive conclusions can currently be drawn regarding the effectiveness of alternate-day 2% CHG bathing in critically ill patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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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.