Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:09:49.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Performance of the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance Risk Index in Predicting Surgical Site Infection in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

N. Deborah Friedman
Affiliation:
Victorian Hospital Acquired Infection Surveillance System, (VICNISS), Melbourne, Australia
Ann L. Bull
Affiliation:
Victorian Hospital Acquired Infection Surveillance System, (VICNISS), Melbourne, Australia
Philip L. Russo
Affiliation:
Victorian Hospital Acquired Infection Surveillance System, (VICNISS), Melbourne, Australia
Lyle Gurrin
Affiliation:
Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic (MEGA) Epidemiology, School of Population Health, the, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Michael Richards*
Affiliation:
Victorian Hospital Acquired Infection Surveillance System, (VICNISS), Melbourne, Australia
*
VICNISS Coordinating Centre, 10 Wreckyn Street, North Melbourne, VIC, 3051 , Australia, ([email protected])

Abstract

Background.

The Victorian Hospital Acquired Infection Surveillance System (VICNISS) hospital-acquired infection surveillance system was established in 2002 in Victoria, Australia, and collates surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance data from public hospitals in Australia.

Objective.

To evaluate the association between the US National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system's risk index and SSI rates for 7 surgical procedures.

Methods.

SSI surveillance was performed with NNIS definitions and methods for surgical procedures performed between November 2002 and September 2004. Correlations were assessed using the Goodman-Kruskal γ statistic.

Results.

Data were submitted for the following numbers of procedures: appendectomy, 545; coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), 4,632; cholecystectomy, 1,001; colon surgery, 623; cesarean section, 4,857; hip arthroplasty, 3,825; and knee arthroplasty, 2,416. NNIS risk index and increasing SSI rate were moderately well correlated for appendectomy (γ = 0.55), colon surgery (γ = 0.48), and cesarean section (γ = 0.42). A fairly positive correlation was found for cholecystectomy (γ = 0.17), hip arthroplasty (γ = 0.2), and knee arthroplasty (γ = 0.16). However, for CABG surgery, a poor association was found (γ = 0.02).

Conclusions.

The NNIS risk index was positively correlated with an increasing SSI rate for all 7 procedures; the strongest correlation was found for appendectomy, cesarean section, and colon surgery, and the poorest correlation was found for CABG surgery. We believe that risk stratification with the NNIS risk index is appropriate for comparison of data for most procedures and superior to use of no risk adjustment. However, for some procedures, particularly CABG, further studies of alternative risk indexes are needed to better stratify patients.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Gaynes, R, Richards, C, Edwards, J, et al, and the National Nosocomial Surveillance (NNIS) System Hospitals. Feeding back surveillance data to prevent hospital-acquired infections. Emerg Infect Dis 2001;7:295298.Google Scholar
2. Culver, DH, Horan, TC, Gaynes, RP, et al. Surgical wound infection rates by wound class, operative procedure, and patient risk index. National Nosocomial Surveillance System. Am J Med 1991;91(Suppl 3B):152S157S.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. National Nosocomial Surveillance (NNIS) System report, data summary from January 1990-May 1999. Am J Infect Control 1999;27:520532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Korinek, AM. Risk factors for neurosurgical site infections after craniotomy: a prospective multicenter study of 2944 patients: The French Study Group of Neurosurgical Infections, the SEHP, and the C-CLIN Paris-Nord, Service Epidemiologie Hygiene et Prevention. Neurosurgery 1997;41:10731079.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Barrasa Villar, JI, Domingo Cuevas, I, Vizmanos Sevilla, F. Use of the NNIS index for determining the intrinsic risk of surgical infection [in Spanish]. Med Clin (Bare) 1996;107:767771.Google Scholar
6. Ronveaux, O, Mertens, R, Dupont, Y. Surgical wound infection surveillance: results from the Belgian hospital network. Acta Chir Belg 1996;96:310.Google Scholar
7. Hernandez, K, Ramos, E, Seas, C, Henostroza, G, Gotuzzo, E. Incidence of and risk factors for surgical-site infections in a Peruvian hospital. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2005;26:473477.Google Scholar
8. Horan, TC, Edwards, JR, Culver, DH, Gaynes, RP. Risk factors for incisional surgical site infection after cesarean section: results of a 5-year multi-center study [abstract]. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2000;21(S-T4-05):145.Google Scholar
9. National Surveillance of Healthcare Associated Infection in Australia, Expert Working Group of the Australian Infection Control Association [unpublished draft]. A Report to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. February 2001.Google Scholar
10. Infection control program quality monitoring. Policy directive from New South Wales Health (PD2005 414). New South Wales, North Sydney, NSW: Department of Health; 2005. Available at: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies. Accessed on December 1, 2006.Google Scholar
11. Garner, JS, Jarvis, WR, Emori, TG, Horan, TC, Hughes, JM. CDC definitions for nosocomial infections, 1988. Am J Infect Control 1988;16:128140.Google Scholar
12. Horan, TC, Emori, TG. Definitions of key terms used in the NNIS System. Am J Infect Control 1997;25:112116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13. New classification of physical status. Anesthesiology 1963;24:111.Google Scholar
14. National Nosocomial Surveillance (NNIS) system report, data summary from January 1992 through June 2004. Am J Infect Control 2004;32:470485.Google Scholar
15. Goodman, LA, Kruskal, WH. Measures of association for cross classifications, J Am Stat Assoc 1954;49:732764.Google Scholar
16. Chaim, W, Bashiri, A, Bar-David, J, Shoham-Vardi, I, Mazor, M. Prevalence and clinical significance of postpartum endometritis and wound infection. Infect Dis Obstet Gynecol 2000;8:7782.Google Scholar
17. Desjardins, C, Diallo, HO, Audet-Lapointe, P, Harel, F. Retrospective study of post-Cesarean endometritis, 1992-1993, Notre-Dame Hospital, Montreal, Canada [in French]. J Gynecol Obstet Biol Reprod 1996;25:419423.Google Scholar
18. Department of Human Services. Infection Control in Victorian Public Hospitals. Melbourne, Victoria: Dept of Human Services; 1998.Google Scholar
19. Haley, R. Measuring the intrinsic risk of wound infection in surgical patients. Prob Gen Surg 1993;10:396417.Google Scholar
20. Keats, A. The ASA classification of physical status-a recapitulation. Anesthesiology 1978;49:233236.Google Scholar
21. Salemi, C, Anderson, D, Flores, D. American Society of Anaesthesiology scoring discrepancies affecting the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System surgical-site infection risk index rates. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1997;18:333337.Google Scholar
22. Kaye, KS, Sands, K, Donahue, JG, Chan, KA, Fishman, P, Platt, R. Preoperative drug dispensing as predictor of surgical site infection. Emerg Infect Dis 2001;7:5765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Roy, MC, Herwaldt, LA, Embrey, R, Kuhns, K, Wenzel, RP, Perl, TM. Does the Centers for Disease Control's NNIS system risk index stratify patients undergoing cardiothoracic operations by their risk of surgical-site infection? Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2000;21:186190.Google Scholar
24. Russo, PL, Spelman, DW. A new surgical-site infection risk index using risk factors identified by multivariate analysis for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2002;23:372376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25. Brandt, C, Hansen, S, Sohr, D, Daschner, F, Ruden, H, Gastmeier, P. Finding a method for optimizing risk adjustment when comparing surgical-site infection rates. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2004;25:313318.Google Scholar
26. Spelman, D, Russo, PL, Harrington, G, et al. Risk factors for surgical wound infection and bacteraemia following coronary artery bypass surgery. Aust NZ J Surg 2000;70:4751.Google Scholar
27. Lilienfeld, DE, Vlahov, D, Tenney, JH, McLaughlin, JS. Obesity and diabetes as risk factors for postoperative wound infections after cardiac surgery. Am J Infect Control 1988;16:36.Google Scholar
28. Nagachinta, T, Stephens, M, Reitz, B, Polk, BE Risk factors for surgical-wound infection following cardiac surgery, J Infect Dis 1987;156:967973.Google Scholar
29. Simchen, E, Shapiro, M, Marin, G, Sacks, T, Michel, J. Risk factors for postoperative wound infection in cardiac surgery patients. Infect Control 1983;4:215220.Google Scholar
30. Wilson, SJ, Sexton, DJ. Elevated preoperative fasting serum glucose levels increase the risk of postoperative mediastinitis in patients undergoing open heart surgery. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2003;24:776778.Google Scholar
31. Killian, CA, Graffunder, EM, Vinciguerra, TJ, Venezia, RA. Risk factors for surgical-site infections following Cesarean section. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2001;22:613617.Google Scholar
32. Takoudes, TC, Weitzen, S, Slocum, J, Malee, M. Risk of Cesarean wound complications in diabetic gestations. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2004;191:958963.Google Scholar
33. Myles, TD, Gooch, J, Santolaya, J. Obesity as an independent risk factor for infectious morbidity in patients who undergo Cesarean delivery. Obstet Gynecol 2002;100:959964.Google Scholar
34. Ustun, C, Kokcu, A, Cil, E, Kandemir, B. Relationship between endomyometritis and the duration of premature membrane rupture. J Matern Fetal Med 1998;7:243246.Google Scholar