Impact of oral care modalities on the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit: A meta-analysis

At present, evidence of the role of oral hygiene in ICU-related pneumonia is rare. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of toothbrush-based oral care in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients with mechanical ventilation in the ICU. METHODS: Ten databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating toothbrush-based oral care for preventing VAP in patients with mechanical ventilation in ICU. Quality assessment and data extraction were independently performed by 2 researchers. The meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: Thirteen RCTs with 657 patients were included. Tooth brushing + 0.2%/0.12% chlorhexidine was associated with reduced incidence of VAP compared to chlorhexidine (OR = 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.43–0.91, P = .01) or tooth brushing + placebo (OR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.25–0.86, P = .02) in patients with mechanical ventilation in ICU, but was similar to cotton wipe with 0.2% or 0.12% chlorhexidine (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 0.77–2.29, P = .31). CONCLUSIONS: Tooth brushing combined with chlorhexidine mouthwash can prevent VAP in patients with mechanical ventilation in ICU. There is no advantage of tooth brushing combined with chlorhexidine mouthwash over cotton wipe with chlorhexidine mouthwash for preventing VAP in these patients.