The Italian national surgical site infection surveillance programme and its positive impact, 2009 to 2011

Programmes surveying surgical site infection (SSI) have been implemented throughout the world and are associated with a reduction in SSI rates. We report data on non-prosthetic surgery from the Italian SSI surveillance programme for the period 2009 to 2011. Participation in the programme was voluntary. We evaluated the occurrence of SSI, based on protocols from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, within 30 days of surgery. Demographic data, risk factors, type of surgery and presence of SSI were recorded. The National Coordinating Centre analysed the pooled data. On 355 surgical wards 60,460 operations were recorded, with the number of surveyed intervention doubling over the study period. SSI was observed in 1,628 cases (2,6%) and 60% of SSI were diagnosed through 30-days post discharge surveillance. Operations performed in hospitals with at least two years of surveillance showed a 29% lower risk of SSI. Longer intervention duration, American Society of Anesthesiologists’ (ASA) score of at least three, and pre-surgery hospital stay of at least two days were associated with increased risk of SSI, while videoscopic procedures had reduced SSI rates. Implementation of a national surveillance programme was helpful in reducing SSI rates and should be prioritised in all healthcare systems.