TREATMENT
Review: enhanced oral hygiene prevents respiratory infection in elderly people in hospitals and nursing homes
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
P Sjögren
Dr P Sjögren, Oral Care AB, Göteborg, Sweden; petteri.sjogren@oralcare.se
Does enhanced oral hygiene prevent respiratory infection in elderly people in hospitals and nursing homes?
Included studies evaluated the effect of enhanced oral hygiene care or frequent professional oral care on respiratory infection in elderly people in hospital or living in nursing homes. Outcomes were respiratory infection, pneumonia, and death from pneumonia.
Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (to Nov 2007); and reference lists were searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in English, German, Dutch, or a Nordic language between 1996 and 2007. Studies involving patients with mechanical ventilation or tube feeding were excluded. 3 RCTs (n = 807) met the selection criteria. 1 placebo controlled trial was double blinded. An additional crossover trial (n = 46) of uncertain randomisation status did not provide useful data.
Meta-analysis was not done
Trillium Health Centre, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
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