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

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.aAnnotation with (E), (L), or (C) denotes whether original studies were included in the systematic reviews of Edwards et al [60] (E), Lee et al [12] (L), or Noorani et al [13] (N).bA, B, and C denote different study arms.cOutcome: surgical site infections per number of surgical procedures in each study arm. Significance is indicated either by NS (not significant) or pdAttribution: assesses whether study outcomes derived from alcohol plus CHG were attributed to CHG alone by authors.eThese 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 [57] and one by retrospective comparison of antiseptic regimens after sequential implementation [59].