| Methods |
Case‐control study carried out in 10 hospitals of Guangdong province, China, comparing the rate of usage of protective measures in HCWs with SARS and without SARS. The rate of exposure to SARS between 2 groups was similar. The data were obtained by questionnaire. Limited information is available from the abstract and from partial translation of the original text in Chinese |
| Participants |
Description of cases: 77 HCWs who had contracted SARS
Description of controls: 180 HCWs who had not contracted SARS
Both cases and controls had been working in isolation units and took part in delivering first aid and caring for SARS patients. No significant differences were noted between cases and controls for a series of variables |
| Interventions |
Mouth mask
Thick mouth mask (more than 12 layers of cloths)
Use one‐off paper mouth mask
Never use mouth mask
Wear eye mask if necessary
Protecting for nose and eyes mucosa
Wear shoe gloves
Wear barrier gown
Wear hand gloves
Rinse out mouth
Take bath and change clothes before home
Check mouth mask
Intake oseltamivir phosphate orally
Never eating and smoking in the ward
Handwashing and disinfection
Using nose clamp
Intake herbal Banlangen (Indigowoad Root) orally |
| Outcomes |
SARS |
| Notes |
Risk of bias: medium (inconsistencies in the text: lack of description of controls)
Notes: the authors conclude that the combination of mouth mask, barrier gown, gloves, goggles, footwear, rinse out mouth and take bath and change clothes before provided significant protection and that there was a dose‐response relation with the more interventions used in combination the better the protection. Single measures such as wearing of a mask (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.99), goggles (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.41) and footwear (OR, 0.58 95% CI 0.39 to 0.86) were effective
Limited information is available from the abstract and from partial translation of the original text in Chinese |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
