Chlorhexidine Gluconate Dressings Reduce Bacterial Colonization Rates in Epidural and Peripheral Regional Catheters

Table 1

Demographic data of regional anesthesia catheters analysed.

	Conventional	CHG	value^†
Patients ()	155	153	n/a
Sex (m/f)	70/79	75/71	ns
Age (mean, SD)	56 (17)	56 (18)	ns
Height (cm)	170 (9.3)	171 (9.7)	ns
Weight (kg)	77.2 (17.0)	81.1 (17.2)	ns
BMI	31.2 (6.5)	32.2 (6.3)	ns
Catheters ()	170	167	n/a
Epidural/peripheral	61/109	61/106	n/a
Indwelling epidural catheter duration (days)	7.4 (2.9)	6.0 (2.1)	0.004^†
Indwelling peripheral catheter duration (days)	4.6 (1.6)	4.2 (1.6)	0.042^†
Epidural	61	61	n/a
Interscalene	45	49	n/a
Brachial plexus/VIP	4	2	n/a
Femoral	36	33	n/a
Sciatic	24	22	n/a

Conventional: conventional dressing group; CHG: chlorhexidine gluconate group; m: male; f: female; : number; BMI: body mass index; VIP: vertical infraclavicular plexus; ns: not significant; n/a: not applicable; ^†significant: level of significance .