COMPARATIVE STUDY
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Use and Cutaneous Side Effects of Skin Antiseptics in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants - A Retrospective Survey of the German NICUs.

UNLABELLED: Background Nosocomial infections are a serious problem in the treatment of extremely low birth weight infants (ELBW, <1 000 g). In these patients, effective skin antisepsis is critical to prevent hospital-acquired infections and their sequelae. However, serious side effects of topical antiseptics have been repeatedly reported in extremely preterm infants and no agreement has been reached on the best product in this population. Therefore, we conducted a survey of the German NICUs aiming to investigate current practices and safety of topical antiseptics in ELBW neonates.

METHODS: We sent anonymized questionnaires to 166 German NICUs with the highest level of care.

RESULTS: Usable questionnaires were returned by 64 NICUs (39%). These NICUs had treated a total of 2130 patients with a birth weight<1 000 g in 2012. Octenidine without phenoxyethanol (OwPh) and Octenisept(®) were the predominantly used skin antiseptics for intensive-care procedures. At least one skin complication was reported by 27% (n=17) of the NICUs. In 9 cases Octenisept(®) was used, and in 6 cases octenidine was used.

CONCLUSIONS: According to our knowledge, this is the first study surveying practices and safety of skin antisepsis in ELBWs in the German NICUs. Most German NICUs use octenidine, however, in different preparations. Skin complications including blistering, necrosis and scarring were seen with all octenidine products, a fact which has not been previously reported.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app