Comparing the Effects of Chlorhexidine 2% and Iodopovidone-alcohol on Peripheral Venous Catheter Bacterial Colonization in Preterm Neonates

Studies regarding cleansing the area with antiseptic solutions prior to catheterization in premature infants are limited. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of chlorhexidine 2% and iodopovidone-alcohol solutions on bacterial colonization associated with the peripheral venous catheterization in premature infants. This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2016-2017 at a neonatal intensive care unit in Qazvin, Iran. Premature infants (N=106) were assigned to the two groups of “A” treated with chlorhexidine 2% or “B” cleaned with iodopovidone-alcohol 10%. Quantitative culture of the catheters was performed 48 hours after insertion. Our findings showed that the frequency of positive catheter tips culture was 6.6% among all the samples (N=7). Out of the seven positive cultures, five (43.9%) belonged to the iodopovidone-alcohol group and two (3.7%) were from the chlorhexidine 2% group. Although a number of the positive cultures in the iodopovidone-alcohol group was higher than the chlorhexidine 2% group, this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.21). Results of this study demonstrated that bacterial colony growth may be decreased when using preparatory chlorhexidine 2%, compared with iodopovidone-alcohol at no added risk to infants. We recommend further study in this regard.