Meta-Analysis of Surgical Site Infections in Elective Foot and Ankle Surgery

The incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs) is well documented in orthopedic surgery. Benchmarking is necessary for elective foot and ankle surgery due to the limited data on this topic. The economic burden of SSI management is high. Identifying the epidemiology and potential risk factors of SSIs is critical to prevention. The primary aim of this meta-analysis was to perform a comprehensive systematic review of the literature to identify the SSI rate and risk factors for elective foot and ankle surgery.

A meta-analysis was performed of elective foot and ankle SSI articles between 1999 to 2017. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition of SSIs was used for the metameter. Exclusion criteria included a history of infection, revision, pediatric cases, case studies, and nonelective surgeries.

Seven articles met the selection criteria, which included 7,310 procedures in 6,257 patients. Meta-analysis of the data using a random-effects model demonstrated an SSI rate of 2.5% (0.025), with Q = 39.847.

An established benchmark for infection rates for elective foot and ankle surgery is needed. These results show that SSI rates with elective foot and ankle surgery are comparable with those documented in the literature. Due to a large amount of heterogeneity between studies, there is a need for higher-quality studies examining the infection rate in elective foot and ankle surgery. This is complicated by a multitude of confounding factors affecting the incidence rate of infection.