Primary studies and systematic reviews evaluating chlorhexidine-containing antiseptics for the prevention of surgical site infections.

<p>ALC, alcohol (when alcohol type not known); aq, aqueous; av, available (referring to available iodine as opposed to total iodine complex); CHG, chlorhexidine gluconate; ETH, ethanol; IPA, isopropanol; IPOV, iodine povacrylex; PVI, povidone iodine; RCT, randomised clinical trial; seq, sequential application; vs, versus; ?%, percentage not specified.</p>a<p>Annotation with (E), (L), or (C) denotes whether original studies were included in the systematic reviews of Edwards et al <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0044277#pone.0044277-Edwards1" target="_blank">[60]</a> (E), Lee et al <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0044277#pone.0044277-Lee1" target="_blank">[12]</a> (L), or Noorani et al <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0044277#pone.0044277-Noorani1" target="_blank">[13]</a> (N).</p>b<p>A, B, and C denote different study arms.</p>c<p>Outcome: surgical site infections per number of surgical procedures in each study arm. Significance is indicated either by NS (not significant) or p<0.05 (when significant).</p>d<p>Attribution: assesses whether study outcomes derived from alcohol plus CHG were attributed to CHG alone by authors.</p>e<p>These studies were classified as non-randomised cluster cross-over trials. One had been conducted by prospective sequential implementation of different antiseptic regimens in clinical units <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0044277#pone.0044277-Swenson1" target="_blank">[57]</a> and one by retrospective comparison of antiseptic regimens after sequential implementation <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0044277#pone.0044277-Levin1" target="_blank">[59]</a>.