Effect of 4 % chlorhexidine on cord colonization among hospital and community births in India: a randomized controlled study

Table 3 Bacterial colonization (proportion with positive culture) and colony counts by intervention group and time of swab collection

Variables	Baseline	2-hour post intervention	48-hour post intervention
Hospital data
Bacterial colonization^a,b
Chlorhexidine (n-86, 86, 63)	23 (26.7)	8 (9.3)	12 (19.0)
Placebo (n-86, 86, 64)	13 (15.1)	23 (26.7)	58 (90.6)
Dry Cord (n-75, 75, 58)	14 (18.7)	24 (32.0)	53 (91.4)
Colony counts (Limited to samples with growth)^c,d
Chlorhexidine (n-23,8,12)	3.67 ± 1.15	3.01 ± 0.88	3.96 ± 1.69
Placebo (n-13,23,58)	3.71 ± 0.75	3.77 ± 1.06	4.97 ± 0.97
Dry Cord (n-14, 24, 53)	3.88 ± 0.91	3.96 ± 1.69	5.12 ± 1.07
Community Data
Bacterial colonization^a,b
Chlorhexidine (n-36, 36, 36)	30 (83.3)	16 (44.4)	14 (38.9)
Placebo (n-24, 24, 24)	20 (83.3)	15 (62.5)	16 (80.0)
Dry Cord (n-19, 19, 19)	14 (73.7)	14 (73.7)	16 (84.2)
Colony Counts (Limited to samples with growth)^c,d
Chlorhexidine (n-30, 16, 14)	5.28 ± 1.00	3.85 ± 1.15	3.32 ± 1.36
Placebo (n-20, 15, 16)	5.25 ± 1.10	5.35 ± 0.77	5.08 ± 0.80
Dry Cord (n-14, 14, 16)	5.85 ± 1.31	5.76 ± 1.24	5.55 ± 0.93

^aBacterial colonization was defined as the growth of any organism from the sample; each swab was defined as positive or negative. The total proportion of neonates positive for any organism was estimated at specific time points i.e. at baseline, 2 and 48 h post intervention and was compared across 3 intervention groups
^bValues are expressed in N (%)
^cColony counts were estimated among the positive culture swabs at baseline, 2-hour and 48- hour post intervention in three intervention groups to measure the density of bacterial colonization. The counts were measured in terms of colony-forming units (CFUs) per ml
^dValues are expressed in mean ± SD

ISSN: 1471-2431