Risk factors of surgical wound infection in patients undergoing herniorrhaphy.
OBJECTIVE
To study the causes of surgical wound infection in patients being operated on for abdominal hernias.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study.


METHODS
A tertiary hospital, Spain.


METHODS
497 subjects undergoing herniorrhaphy.


METHODS
Incidence of surgical wound infection during hospital stay and with an extended follow-up to one month after hospital discharge.


RESULTS
During follow-up, 40 patients (8%) developed wound infections. The risk was unrelated to ASA grade, sex, age, severity of underlying disease, or number of diagnoses. Logistic regression analysis included six variables in the model. The most important two were duration of intervention (OR for each hour = 2.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.1 to 4.0) and the infection risk of the surgeon (taking the medium-risk level as reference, OR for low risk = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.03 to 0.81; OR for high risk = 1.83, 95% CI = 0.84 to 3.96). Logistic regression also included cancer, morbid obesity, and serum creatinine and HDL-cholesterol concentrations in the final model. The deviance (as regarding a saturated model including the six variables) of a model including only duration of intervention and surgeon was lower than that of a model with the remaining four factors.


CONCLUSIONS
The risk of infection is governed mainly by factors associated with the operation.
Medina
M
M
Service of General Surgery, Hospital General Ciudad de Jaén, Spain.
Sillero
M
M
Martínez-Gallego
G
G
Delgado-Rodríguez
M
M
D005260:Female; D006555:Hernia, Ventral / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D013997:Time Factors