title: Added hospital stay due to wound infections following cardiac surgery.
abstract: To determine the prolongation of hospital stay due to postoperative wound infections following cardiac surgery, a prospective cohort study was performed by matching multiple control patients without infection to each infected patient (= case). Out of 22 cases, no patient died. No case had to be excluded from the matching process because of a lack of suitable control patients. The maximum number of controls per case was 10. The mean added stay was 12.2 days constituting a considerable prolongation of stay due to wound infection in cardiac surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital of Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kappstein
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schulgen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fraedrich
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schlosser
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schumacher
authors.forename: F D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Daschner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000191:economics