• Pere Godoy, Jesús Castilla, Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez, Vicente Martín, Núria Soldevila, Jordi Alonso, Jenaro Astray, Maretva Baricot, Rafael Cantón, Ady Castro, Fernando González-Candelas, José María Mayoral, José María Quintana, Tomás Pumarola, Sonia Tamames, Angela Domínguez, and CIBERESP Cases and Controls in Pandemic Influenza Working Group, Spain.
• Departament de Salut, Generalitat of Catalonia, Spain. Pere.godoy@gencat.cat
• Prev Med. 2012 Jun 1; 54 (6): 434439434-9.

BackgroundThe objective of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in preventing cases of influenza requiring hospitalization.MethodsWe performed a multicenter case-control study in 36 hospitals, in 2010 in Spain. Hospitalized influenza cases confirmed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and three matched controls (two hospital and one community control) per case were selected. The use of non-pharmacological measures seven days before the onset of symptoms (frequency of hand washing, use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and handwashing after touching contaminated surfaces) was collected.ResultsWe studied 813 cases hospitalized for influenza and 2274 controls. The frequency of hand washing 5-10 times (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=0.65) and >10 times (aOR=0.59) and handwashing after contact with contaminated surfaces (aOR=0.65) were protective factors and were dose-responsive (p<0.001). Alcohol-based hand sanitizers were associated with marginal benefits (aOR=0.82).ConclusionsFrequent handwashing should be recommended to prevent influenza cases requiring hospitalization.Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

38 keywords...

hide…