Efficacy of chlorhexidine solution on oropharyngeal bacterial colonization in hospitalized patients of intensive care units

Infection is a vital problem in intensive care units. Currently, chlorhexidine solution is used to reduce oral colonization. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of chlorhexidine solution on oropharyngeal bacterial colonization in hospitalized patients in the intensive care units.

This descriptive study (from August 2018 to May 2019) was performed on 60 patients who administered in medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) in one of the university hospitals in Semnan city. Patients admitted to (ICUs) were selected according to inclusion criteria. At the time of admission to the intensive care unit, oropharyngeal colonization of patients was assessed. Forty-eight hours after admission and using the chlorhexidine solution 0.2% three times a day, oropharyngeal colonization was assessed again. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software, version. 22 in the significant level of 0.05.

This study showed most of the patients in this study were male (80%) with mean age of 45.23±15.19 years. Most patients were transferred from the emergency department to intensive care units and had endotracheal tubes. At the time of admission to the intensive care unit, 8 patients were infected with E. coli and 6 patients were infected with Klebsiella. The results also showed that the use of chlorhexidine 0.2% had no significant effect on the reduction of micro-organisms in the oropharyngeal area. Forty-eight hours after admission to ICUs, the incidence of E. coli infection increased (P=0.01) but there was no significant increase in the klebsiella infection rate (P=0.25).

This study showed that the use of chlorhexidine solution 0.2% did not affect the reduction of micro-organisms in the oropharyngeal areas of patients. Therefore, oral care protocols that include mechanical movements and toothbrushing should be considered to reduce the occurrence of micro-organisms. This study also found that most patients who were referred to the intensive care unit were contaminated with pathogenic micro-organisms. Therefore, consideration should be given to appropriate strategies to reduce infections in the emergency department.