Risk factors for surgical site infections using a data-driven approach

Area of Science:

• Medical research
• Surgical outcomes
• Infectious disease epidemiology

Background:

• Surgical site infections (SSI) pose a significant threat to patient safety and healthcare costs.
• Identifying accurate risk factors is crucial for effective SSI prevention strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify risk factors for SSI in digestive, thoracic, and orthopaedic surgeries.
• To compare clinical and data-driven cut-off values for risk factor identification.
• To validate identified risk factors against existing literature.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 3,250 surgical procedures.
• Literature scan and univariate analysis for potential risk factors.
• Multivariate logistic regression and comparison of standard vs. data-driven cut-off values.

Main Results:

• Preoperative temperature (≥38°C) and intraoperative antibiotic use were identified as SSI risk factors across all studied procedures.
• C-reactive protein (CRP) and surgery duration were specific risk factors for digestive surgeries.
• Adult age (≥18) demonstrated a protective effect in thoracic surgeries.
• Data-driven cut-offs for temperature, age, and CRP explained SSI outcomes 19.5% better than generic values.

Conclusions:

• This study successfully identified SSI risk factors and highlighted the value of data-driven cut-offs.
• Future research should explore the broader application of data-driven cut-offs for improved outcome prediction in surgical settings.