The objective of this study was to investigate the preventive
effect of oral hygiene on pneumonia and respiratory tract
infection, focusing on elderly people in hospitals and nursing
homes, by systematically reviewing effect estimates and
methodological quality of randomized controlled trials
(RCTs) and to provide an overview of additional clinical
studies in this area. Literature searches were conducted in
the Medline database, the Cochrane library databases, and
by hand-searching reference lists. Included publications
were analyzed for intervention (or topic) studied, main
conclusions, strength of evidence, and study design. RCTs
were further analyzed for effect magnitudes and methodological
details. Absolute risk reductions (ARRs) and numbers
needed to treat (NNTs) were calculated. Fifteen
publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria. There was a
wide variation in the design and quality of the studies included.
The RCTs revealed positive preventive effects of
oral hygiene on pneumonia and respiratory tract infection
in hospitalized elderly people and elderly nursing home
residents, with ARRs from 6.6% to 11.7% and NNTs from
8.6 to 15.3 individuals. The non-RCT studies contributed to
inconclusive evidence on the association and correlation
between oral hygiene and pneumonia or respiratory tract
infection in elderly people. Mechanical oral hygiene has a
preventive effect on mortality from pneumonia, and nonfatal
pneumonia in hospitalized elderly people and elderly
nursing home residents. Approximately one in 10 cases of
death from pneumonia in elderly nursing home residents
may be prevented by improving oral hygiene. Future research
in this area should be focused on high-quality RCTs
with appropriate sample size calculations. J Am Geriatr Soc
56:2124–2130, 2008.
The objective of this study was to investigate the preventiveeffect of oral hygiene on pneumonia and respiratory tractinfection, focusing on elderly people in hospitals and nursinghomes, by systematically reviewing effect estimates andmethodological quality of randomized controlled trials(RCTs) and to provide an overview of additional clinicalstudies in this area. Literature searches were conducted inthe Medline database, the Cochrane library databases, andby hand-searching reference lists. Included publicationswere analyzed for intervention (or topic) studied, mainconclusions, strength of evidence, and study design. RCTswere further analyzed for effect magnitudes and methodologicaldetails. Absolute risk reductions (ARRs) and numbersneeded to treat (NNTs) were calculated. Fifteenpublications fulfilled the inclusion criteria. There was awide variation in the design and quality of the studies included.The RCTs revealed positive preventive effects oforal hygiene on pneumonia and respiratory tract infectionin hospitalized elderly people and elderly nursing homeresidents, with ARRs from 6.6% to 11.7% and NNTs from8.6 to 15.3 individuals. The non-RCT studies contributed toinconclusive evidence on the association and correlationbetween oral hygiene and pneumonia or respiratory tractinfection in elderly people. Mechanical oral hygiene has apreventive effect on mortality from pneumonia, and nonfatalpneumonia in hospitalized elderly people and elderlynursing home residents. Approximately one in 10 cases ofdeath from pneumonia in elderly nursing home residentsmay be prevented by improving oral hygiene. Future researchin this area should be focused on high-quality RCTswith appropriate sample size calculations. J Am Geriatr Soc56:2124–2130, 2008.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
