Incidence of surgical site infections in general surgery in Italy

Epidemiological study to determine surgical site infection (SSI) rates in surgical patients in Italy using the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance system (NNIS), to monitor current surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis, and to identify possible modifiable risk factors for SSI.

Thirty-two general surgeries participated in the study. Main criteria for site inclusion were: > 20 operations per week and amoxycillin/clavulanate among prophylactic options. Each patient operated from April 1st to May 30th 2002 was surveyed until 30 days after the operation. SSI cumulative incidence rates and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated.

During the study period, 3,066 surgical procedures were performed in 2,972 patients. A total of 158 SSI were diagnosed in 154 patients: 96 (62.3%) were at superficial incision, 23 (14.9%) were at deep incision and 35 (22.7%) were at organ-space site. Incidence of SSI every 100 operations was 5.2% (95% CI 4.4-6.0). Of the 2,437 operated patients with clean or elective clean/contaminated or contaminated surgical procedure, 2,105 (86.4%) received antimicrobial prophylaxis, mainly amoxicillin/clavulanate (28.3%) and ceftizoxime (11.4%). Pre-operative hospital stay > or = 48 h, diabetes, obesity, and HIV/AIDS infection were statistically significantly associated with increased risk of SSI.

The SSI rates found are comparable with European studies and can be a benchmark for national incidence data and for inter- and intra-hospital SSI rate comparisons.