Hydrogen Peroxide and Ultraviolet Light for Disinfecting Surfaces in Intensive Care Units (Hylight)

April 10, 2026 updated by: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein

Hydrogen Peroxide and Ultraviolet Light for Disinfecting Surfaces in Intensive Care Units: A Randomized, Controlled, Cluster, Crossover Clinical Trial

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) remain a major problem in intensive care units (ICUs), driven by environmental contamination with multidrug-resistant organisms that persist despite routine manual cleaning. While hydrogen peroxide aerosolization and ultraviolet-C light devices have shown promise in reducing surface contamination, current evidence is inconsistent, mostly derived from single-center studies, and rarely linked to patient-centered outcomes.

The investigators will conduct this cluster-randomized, crossover trial in 12 Brazilian ICUs. Each ICU will sequentially implement three strategies: (1) usual surface disinfection; (2) usual surface disinfection followed by hydrogen peroxide aerosolization at 7.9% concentration, applied through a dedicated device inside a protective tent during terminal cleaning of patient beds; and (3) usual surface disinfection followed by automated ultraviolet-C irradiation, also applied under the same tent to shield adjacent occupied beds.

The primary outcome will be the antimicrobial utilization, measured as daily defined doses (DDD) of antimicrobials at the ICU level per 100 patient-days, with secondary outcomes including HAI incidence rate, environmental contamination with multidrug-resistant organisms, specific HAIs incidence rate (associated-ventilator pneumonia, central-line associated bloodstream infection, and catheter-associated urinary tract infection), and ICU length of stay costs.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

5000

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Brazil
      • Recife, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital Pelópidas Silveira
        • Contact:
    • Ceará
      • Barbalha, Ceará, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital Maternidade Sao Vicente De Paulo
        • Contact:
    • Federal District
      • Brasília, Federal District, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Instituto Hospital de Base
        • Contact:
    • Goiás
      • Aparecida de Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital Estadual de Aparecida de Goiânia
        • Contact:
          • Wallef S Rodrigues
          • Phone Number: 55-62-3983-1750
    • Minas Gerais
      • Passos, Minas Gerais, Brazil
    • Paraná
      • Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Fundo Municipal de Saúde de Maringá
        • Contact:
          • Francielle C Pereira
          • Phone Number: 55-44-3127-3100
    • Pernambuco
      • Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital da Restauração
        • Contact:
    • Piauí
      • Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital Universitário da Universidade Federal do Piauí
        • Contact:
    • Rio Grande do Norte
      • Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes
        • Contact:
    • Rio Grande do Sul
      • Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital Geral de Caxias do Sul
        • Contact:
      • Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
    • São Paulo
      • Itapetininga, São Paulo, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital Dr Leo Orsi Bernardes
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All patients aged 18 years and older who will be admitted to the participating ICUs

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients under 18 years
  • ICUs that use peroxide hydrogen or ultraviolet light for surface disinfection as part of their protocol

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Surface disinfection with aerosolized hydrogen peroxide
The hygiene team of each participating ICU will spray aerosolized peroxide hydrogen using a specific device when performing terminal cleaning of the ICU bed after the patient's discharge. As peroxide hydrogen aerosol can be irritating to people nearby, we will use a tent designed to cover the bed and nearby equipment during peroxide hydrogen disinfection, thus preventing aerosols from spreading to other beds and other areas of ICUs where beds are not in closed rooms.
Other: Aerosol of hydrogen peroxide
Spray of aerosolized peroxide hydrogen using a specific device when performing terminal cleaning of the ICU bed after the patient's discharge.
Other Names:
  • Hydrogen Peroxide
Experimental: Surface disinfection with irradiation of ultraviolet light
The hygiene team of each participating ICU will use a specific device, requiring no manipulation, for irradiating UV light for the purpose of disinfecting beds and surfaces near beds during terminal cleaning. To prevent UV irradiation from reaching occupied beds and other areas of the ICU, the same tent described in the "peroxide hydrogen" arm.
Other: Irradiation of ultraviolet light
Irradiation of UV light for the purpose of disinfecting beds and surfaces near beds during terminal cleaning.
Other Names:
  • Ultraviolet light
No Intervention: Usual disinfection
The control group will perform standard cleaning and disinfection of the beds and the environment according to their previous protocols, using the usual products.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Antimicrobial utilization at the ICU level
Time Frame: 3 months
Antimicrobial utilization, measured as daily defined doses (DDD) of antimicrobials at the ICU level per 100 patient-days
3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Contamination of environmental surfaces by multi-resistant microorganisms
Time Frame: 3 months
We will collect environmental samples from 4 surfaces highly touched by the patient, health team and family (bed rails, monitor and infusion pump buttons, meal table or procedure table, and IV drip stand) before and after the intervention. For analysis of the environmental samples, characterization of the density and microbiological profile of biofilms on the different surfaces of the ICU beds will be performed using large-scale DNA sequencing techniques associated with bioinformatics analysis.
3 months
Incidence density of ventilator-associated pneumonia
Time Frame: 3 months
3 months
Incidence density of central line-associated bloodstream infections
Time Frame: 3 months
3 months
Incidence density of catheter-associated urinary tract infection
Time Frame: 3 months
3 months
Intensive care unit length of stay costs
Time Frame: 3 months
3 months
Healthcare-associated infections
Time Frame: 3 months
Incidence rate of device healthcare-associated infections during ICU admission
3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein

Collaborators

Hospital do Coracao
Hospital Sirio-Libanes
Beneficência Portuguesa de São Paulo

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Antonio P Nassar Jr, PhD, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 5, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 26, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 14, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 14, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

November 18, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CAAE 71265723.0.1001.0071

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

The sharing of individual participant data is subject to approval by the Institutional Review Boards and the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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