1. Other outcome data from included studies.
| Comparison | Number of participants | Outcome | Data | Effect estimate (95% CI) |
| Listerine versus sodium bicarbonate versus sterile water (Berry 2013) | Listerine group: 127; Sodium bicarbonate group: 133; Sterile water group: 138 | Duration of mechanical ventilation | No significant difference between groups in median ventilation hours (81 hours, SD 1058) | |
| Duration of ICU stay | No significant difference between groups in median length of ICU stay (5 days, SD 29) | |||
| Systemic antibiotic use | No significant difference between groups (P = 0.21) | |||
| Adverse events | No adverse events were reported associated with interventions | |||
| CHX + toothbrushing versus control (Bopp 2006) | CHX + toothbrushing group: 2; Control group:3 | Incidence of VAP | 0 cases in CHX + toothbrushing group and 1 case in control group | |
| Duration of ventilation | Mean 5.5 days (SD 0.3896) in toothbrushing group and mean 5 days (SD 0.8051) in control group | |||
| Duration of ICU stay | Mean 18 days (SD 1.6695) in toothbrushing group and mean 10.3 days (SD 2.6971) in control group | |||
| CHX versus placebo (Koeman 2006) | CHX: 127; Placebo:130 | Mortality |
HR | HR 1.12 (95% CI 0.72 to 1.17) |
| CHX versus placebo (Meinberg 2012) | CHX group: 28; Placebo group: 24 | Duration of mechanical ventilation | Median days in CHX group 8.5 (interquartile range, 7.3 to 14.7) and median days in placebo group 6 (4 to 12.7) (P = 0.17) | |
| Duration of ICU stay | Median days in CHX group 12 (interquartile range, 9 to 29) and median days in placebo group 11 (5 to 16) (P = 0.36) | |||
| Powered toothbrush + CHX versus CHX alone (Roca Biosca 2011) | Powered toothbrush group: 29; CHX alone group: 32 | Plaque index | Mean in toothbrush group 1.68 and mean in control group 1.91; no estimates of variance but reported that P = 0.7 (no difference) | |
| Incidence of VAP | OR 0.78 (95% CI 0.36 to 1.68, P = 0.56) | |||
| CHX (once daily or twice daily) versus placebo (Scannapieco 2009) | CHX 1x/day group: 47; CHX 2x/day group: 50; Placebo group: 49 | Plaque index | No difference between the 3 groups (data presented graphically) | |
| Biotene OralBalance versus control (Stefanescu 2013) | Biotene OralBalance group: 20; Control group: 21 | Duration of mechanical ventilation | No difference between groups (P = 0.77) | |
| Adverse events | No significant difference between groups with respect to adverse events in buccal mucosa |
CHX = chlorhexidine; CI = confidence interval; CPIS = Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score; HR = hazard ratio; ICU = intensive care unit; OR = odds ratio; P = probability; SD = standard deviation; VAP = ventilator‐associated pneumonia