Study	Reason for exclusion
Ayliffe 1983	Not a randomised controlled trial.
Bergman 1979	No data on wound infection. Not a randomised controlled trial.
Bode 2010	Co‐intervention (mupirocin and chlorhexidine soap). Also included patients who did not undergo surgery.
Brandberg 1980	Not a randomised controlled trial. Local wash versus full body wash with chlorhexidine.
Colling 2014	Retrospective review comparing two hospitals. One hospital had a pre‐operative showering policy using an antiseptic solution; the other hospital did not.
Edminson 2010	Not a clinical trial.
Edmiston 2008	Healthy volunteers used to compare skin concentration levels of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) following washing with various CHG products.
Eiselt 2009	Not a randomised controlled trial. Used a pre and post intervention design.
Enjabert 1984	Not a randomised controlled trial.
Garabaldi 1988	No no‐antiseptic group. Did not report infection rates by group.
Jakobsson 2010	Systematic review.
Kaiser 1988	Did not report infection rates by group.
Kalanter‐Hormozi 2005	Patients in both groups showered with water. The trial compared methods of skin preparation prior to surgery.
Leigh 1983	Not a randomised controlled trial.
Murray 2011	2% chlorhexidine gluconate cloths were used to wipe over the entire body one hour after showering.
Newsom 1988	Not a randomised controlled trial. Patients were allocated by month.
Paulson 1993	Assessed reduction in microbial loads in healthy volunteers.
Tanner 2011	Trial of healthy volunteers
Veiga 2008	Assessed the influence of povidone‐iodine preoperative showers on skin colonization. Rates of wound infection not reported.
Wells 1983	Not a randomised controlled trial. Did not report infection rates by group.