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Alcohol-based hand-disinfection reduced children's absence from Swedish day care centers

Lennell, Anne ; Kuhlmann-Berenzon, Sharon ; Geli, Patricia ; Hedin, Katarina LU ; Petersson, Christer ; Cars, Otto ; Mannerquist, Kerstin ; Burman, Lars G. and Fredlund, Hans (2008) In Acta Pædiatrica 97(12). p.1672-1680
Abstract
Aim: To determine if the use of alcohol-based hand-disinfection as a complement to regular hand washing at daycare centers (DCCs) can reduce the childhood rate of absenteeism. Methods: Children aged 0-6 years attending DCC were studied in a cluster randomized controlled trial during 30 weeks. Thirty matched pairs of DCCs were included in the study, where one of the DCCs was randomized to intervention and the other to control within each pair. The intervention consisted in children and staff using alcohol-based oily disinfectant gel containing 70% ethanol after regular hand washing. The main outcome was the rate of episodes of absence from DCC due to infection. A regression model was fitted at the individual level and controlling several... (More)
Aim: To determine if the use of alcohol-based hand-disinfection as a complement to regular hand washing at daycare centers (DCCs) can reduce the childhood rate of absenteeism. Methods: Children aged 0-6 years attending DCC were studied in a cluster randomized controlled trial during 30 weeks. Thirty matched pairs of DCCs were included in the study, where one of the DCCs was randomized to intervention and the other to control within each pair. The intervention consisted in children and staff using alcohol-based oily disinfectant gel containing 70% ethanol after regular hand washing. The main outcome was the rate of episodes of absence from DCC due to infection. A regression model was fitted at the individual level and controlling several possible confounders for illness. Absences were reported by the parents. Results: Differences in missing absence reports between the two groups led to only evaluating those 29 DCCs (1431 children) that were able to provide complete reports. In the multivariate regression, the intervention significantly reduced the rate of absenteeism of a child by 12% compared to a child in a control DCC (IRR 95% CI: 0.799-0.965). Conclusion: Hand-disinfection used by children and staff significantly decreased childrens absences due to infections in Swedish DCCs. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Hand-disinfection, Day care centers, Cluster randomized trial, Absenteeism, Children
in
Acta Pædiatrica
volume
97
issue
12
pages
1672 - 1680
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000260731300019
  • scopus:55649088488
  • pmid:18945282
ISSN
1651-2227
DOI
10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.01057.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e0dbf1f7-b62a-4911-a281-833a6648fec8 (old id 1308029)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:37:46
date last changed
2022-03-29 22:03:06
@article{e0dbf1f7-b62a-4911-a281-833a6648fec8,
  abstract     = {{Aim: To determine if the use of alcohol-based hand-disinfection as a complement to regular hand washing at daycare centers (DCCs) can reduce the childhood rate of absenteeism. Methods: Children aged 0-6 years attending DCC were studied in a cluster randomized controlled trial during 30 weeks. Thirty matched pairs of DCCs were included in the study, where one of the DCCs was randomized to intervention and the other to control within each pair. The intervention consisted in children and staff using alcohol-based oily disinfectant gel containing 70% ethanol after regular hand washing. The main outcome was the rate of episodes of absence from DCC due to infection. A regression model was fitted at the individual level and controlling several possible confounders for illness. Absences were reported by the parents. Results: Differences in missing absence reports between the two groups led to only evaluating those 29 DCCs (1431 children) that were able to provide complete reports. In the multivariate regression, the intervention significantly reduced the rate of absenteeism of a child by 12% compared to a child in a control DCC (IRR 95% CI: 0.799-0.965). Conclusion: Hand-disinfection used by children and staff significantly decreased childrens absences due to infections in Swedish DCCs.}},
  author       = {{Lennell, Anne and Kuhlmann-Berenzon, Sharon and Geli, Patricia and Hedin, Katarina and Petersson, Christer and Cars, Otto and Mannerquist, Kerstin and Burman, Lars G. and Fredlund, Hans}},
  issn         = {{1651-2227}},
  keywords     = {{Hand-disinfection; Day care centers; Cluster randomized trial; Absenteeism; Children}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  pages        = {{1672--1680}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Acta Pædiatrica}},
  title        = {{Alcohol-based hand-disinfection reduced children's absence from Swedish day care centers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.01057.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.01057.x}},
  volume       = {{97}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}