[Surgical site infection in non-traumatic surgery]

Risk factors of surgical site infection (SSI) have been widely studied, such as abdominal surgery, surgical time >2 h, contaminated or dirty surgery, three or more diagnoses at discharge, and ASA classification >II.

A prospective risk factor study was carried out for SSI in patients who underwent non-traumatic abdominal surgery, comparing an institutional (Secretary of Health) and a private third-level hospital during the period from October 2001 to May 2002.

We studied 527 patients with 21 cases (3.98%) of SSI and four deaths due to this cause, 0.75% of the total population and 19% of patients with SSI. The mean age was 47.5 +/- 19.1 years, and there were 195 (37%) males and 332 (63%) females. The incidence of SSI in the private hospital was 2.1% and in the institutional hospital 5%, without statistical significance (p = 0.09). Within the infected group we found 14 superficial infections, 5 deep infections, and 2 infections in the organ or surgical field. Variables included in the models of logistic regression were smoke, blood transfusion, trichotomy, and wound type.

Observed infection incidence was within the expected range. In our study there were no differences between facilities, and SSI incidence is similar to what has previously been reported.