Are three antiseptic paints needed for safe preparation of the surgical field? A prospective cohort study with 239 patients

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of patients undergoing a non-emergency cardiac or abdominal surgery (n = 239 patients)

Characteristics	Overall	No. patients with missing data^a
Age in years,^b median (IQR)	65.0 (56.5─72.5)	0
Female, n (%)	75 (31.4)	0
BMI in kg/m²,^b median (IQR)	26.8 (23.8─30.1)	0
Diabetes mellitus,^c n (%)	48 (20.1)	0
Antimicrobial treatment prior to surgery,^d n (%)	15 (6.3)	0
Adequate antimicrobial prophylaxis,^e n (%)	231 (96.7)	0
Type of surgery, n (%)		0
Cardiac surgery	135 (56.5)
Abdominal surgery	104 (43.5)
Antiseptic product,^f n (%)		0
Chlorhexidine	94 (39.3)
Povidone iodine	145 (60.7)
Overall exposure time of antiseptics^g in minutes, median (IQR)	7.6 (6.5─9.0)	4

BMI body mass index, IQR interquartile range
^aFor each row/variable
^bAt day of surgery
^cPrevious diagnosis of diabetes mellitus type 2 according to medical records
^dAny antimicrobial treatment within the last 2 weeks prior to surgery and excluding peri-interventional antimicrobial prophylaxis
^eAntimicrobial prophylaxis administered within 120 min prior to incision
^fThe formulations in use for preoperative skin antisepsis were chlorhexidine in alcohol and povidone iodine in alcohol
^gTime period from start of skin antisepsis until the applied antiseptic has dried out after paint 3

ISSN: 2047-2994