For the study, researchers monitored the outcomes of 1,097 patients admitted to intensive care units after undergoing cardiac surgery. Of the patients, 522 were randomly admitted to an ICU sterilized with UV air purification system and 575 were admitted to an ICU without a UV sterilizer.
Patients admitted to ICUs with the UV air purification equipment displayed a sepsis rate of 3.4 percent compared to a 6.7 percent sepsis rate among the non-UV sterilizer cohort.
“Pathogens are transmitted through the air, and by touching skin, clothes, and medical instruments and devices,” said lead study author Juan Bustamante Munguira, MD, a physician at the University Hospital La Princesa in Madrid. “Our research shows that the UV air sterilizer was independently associated with lower 30 day in-hospital mortality. The ultraviolet radiation is harmless to humans but kills microorganisms including bacteria, viruses and spores by inactivating their RNA or DNA … This is a relatively new area of research and a cost effectiveness study in more patients is needed.”
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