Fig. 1

The ICU mortality incidence for the component (C = control ○; I = intervention Δ) groups (graded by group size) of individual studies of infection prevention interventions among patients receiving MV. Groups originating from RCCTs of interventions studied included non-antimicrobial-based methods (n = 81), topical anti-septic-based methods (n = 22) or topical antibiotic-based methods (n = 64). The overall benchmark being the summary mean (central vertical line) derived from the observational studies (Ob = observational; n = 43) is displayed together with the 95% confidence limits (CIs, horizontal error bars) associated with the summary incidence for each category. These 95% CIs were calculated using random effect methods as described in [52]. One control and one intervention group from each of five mega-CRTs (more than 10 ICUs) (c = CHORAL [69]; d = de Smet [44]; o = Oosterdijk [45]; s = SuDDICU [47]; w = Wittekamp [46]) and median control and intervention group mortality for five large Systematic reviews (more than 4 studies) (|= Bo [15]; ↓ = Gillies [12]; |= Zhao (Toothbrushing ± antispetic) [17]; ↓ = Hua (Topical Chlorhexidine) [16]; ↓ = Minozzi (TAP + PPAP) [7]; |= Minozzi (TAP alone)) [7] are indicated. Note the x-axis is a logit scale. The figure is adapted from reference [52]. and used here under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)