we identified other studies 33–36 assessing the eff ect of chlorhexidine on
occurrence of ventilator-associated pneumonia. These
studies, however, did not meet our inclusion criteria, or
the provided data were incomplete. Because we were
unable to obtain the necessary data, these studies could
not be included. Although eff ects are unlikely to be less
explicit in blinded studies, our subanalysis of these trials
still showed a 27% risk reduction, which proved to be
very close to statistical signifi cance.