Honey Doesn’t Prevent Peritoneal Dialysis Infections

October 11, 2013

THURSDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) — For patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis, daily application of antibacterial honey at the exit site is not associated with increased time to peritoneal-dialysis-related infections, according to a study published online Oct. 10 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

In an effort to examine whether daily application of antibacterial honey at the exit site would increase the time to peritoneal-dialysis-related infections, David W. Johnson, PhD, from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues conducted an open-label multicenter trial involving 371 participants undergoing peritoneal dialysis. Participants were randomized to receive topical exit-site application of antibacterial honey (186 participants) or intranasal mupirocin prophylaxis (for carriers of nasal Staphylococcus aureus) plus standard exit-site care (185 participants).

The researchers found that there was no significant difference between the groups in the median peritoneal-dialysis-related infection-free survival times (16.0 months in honey group versus 17.7 months in control group; P = 0.47). For participants with diabetes, honey correlated with increased risk of time to first peritoneal-dialysis-related infection and peritonitis. There was no significant difference between the groups in the incidence of serious adverse events and deaths. Local skin reactions were experienced by 6 percent of participants in the honey group.

“The findings of this trial show that honey cannot be recommended routinely for the prevention of peritoneal-dialysis-related infections,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the medical technology industry, and Baxter Healthcare, which partially funded the study.