Paper
Advantages and Disadvantages of Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers: A Systematic Review
Published 2021 · Y. Moradi, Farzin Mollazadeh, R. Baghaei
1
Citations
0
Influential Citations
Abstract
Background: Hand hygiene is a very simple procedure to reduce hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections, prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance and increase patient safety. Hand disinfection involves the process of removing and decreasing skin resident flora through hand scrub. Therefore, the use of alcohol-based solutions for hand hygiene has been common nowadays. Despite many benefits of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, these compounds may suffer from some disadvantages too. Objective: The present study aimed to determine the advantages and disadvantages of alcoholbased hand sanitizers. Methods: This systematic review was conducted in three phases of literature searching, evaluating data, and analyzing data. All studies published during 2010-2020 were simultaneously searched in databases of MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, and Magiran using the keywords of hand hygiene, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and healthcare-associated infections. Then, data of included studied were collected and analyzed. Results: In the preliminary search, a number of 117 relevant studies were identified from which 22 were included in the study. After precise analysis of data extracted from the included studies, the advantages and disadvantages of alcohol-based hand sanitizers classified in 4 (having acceptable disinfectant effect, having better cleaning effect on microbial hand contamination compared to both conventional surgical scrub and soap and water, ease of use, and causing minor systemic complications) and 6 categories (incomplete activity against some microorganisms and inefficiency under some circumstances, leading to skin complications in case of long-term use, impairing the performance of latex and nitrile gloves, intolerance in some people, possibility of oral use, and flammability), respectively. Conclusion: The present systematic review recommends alcohol-based hand sanitizers for daily use as these agents affect a broad spectrum of microorganisms and mainly have minor adverse effects.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are recommended for daily use due to their broad spectrum of microorganisms and minor adverse effects, but may cause skin complications and impair glove performance.
Full text analysis coming soon...