| Summary of findings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of studies | Study design | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | Number of patients | Quality |
| Rate of infection | ||||||||
| 2 | Cohort | Not serious | Not serious | Not Serious | Serious | No: publication bias, large effect, plausible confounding, dose response gradient | Intervention total: 79 807, Control total: 33 792 | ⨁⨁LOW a,b |
| Detection of resistant organisms without an infection or changes to flora or microbiota | ||||||||
| 3 | 1 RCT and 2 cohort studies | Serious | Not serious | Not serious | Serious | No: publication bias, large effect, plausible confounding, dose response gradient | Intervention total: 36, Control total: 45 | ⨁VERY LOW c,d,e,f,d,g |
| Explanations |
|---|
| a. Selection bias: students selected from one university campus. |
| b. Imprecise estimates: wide 95% confidence intervals. |
| c. Selection bias: patients not randomised to treatment. |
| d. Confounding factors not reported or incorporated in analysis. |
| e. Follow-up inconsistent between treatment groups. |
| f. Confidence intervals not reported and small sample size. |
| g. No 95% confidence intervals reported: predominantly numbers and percentages reported. |
GRADE = Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation; RCT = randomised controlled trial.