Incidence and risk factors for surgical site infection in general surgeries.
Rafael Lima Rodrigues de Carvalho, Camila Cláudia Campos, Lúcia Maciel de Castro Franco and 2 others
PMID 29211190WHAT IT FOUND
In 16,882 general surgeries, 3.4% developed surgical site infection.
Longer preoperative stay, longer surgery, higher ASA class, and greater wound contamination were associated with more infections.
Key findings
01Among 16,882 general surgical procedures, 568 surgical site infections occurred, an incidence of 3.4%.
02The final model linked infection to preoperative stay over 24 hours, longer surgery, clean-contaminated, contaminated or dirty/infected wounds, and ASA II, III or IV/V.
03Of 568 infections, cultures were taken from 177 patients; Staphyloccocus aureus was found in 43 and Escherichia coli in 27.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used existing hospital infection-control records, so missing or inconsistent data could affect the results. Only variables already stored in the database were analyzed, so other infection risks were not measured. Surveillance was during hospitalization only, and the authors state that post-discharge infections may have been missed, which could underestimate the incidence. Only 177 of the 568 infections had cultures, so the microbiology findings describe that subset. This was an observational study in one hospital, so it cannot show that changing a factor prevents infection.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these odds as proof that changing one factor prevents infection. This was an observational database study with only in-hospital surveillance, so it may miss post-discharge infections and cannot separate confounding.