Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T12:44:56.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Risk Factors for Post-operative Wound Infection in Cardiac Surgery Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Elisheva Simchen*
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Social Medicine and Cardiac Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem
Mervyn Shapiro
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Social Medicine and Cardiac Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem
Gideon Marin
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Social Medicine and Cardiac Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem
Theodore Sacks
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Social Medicine and Cardiac Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem
Jacques Michel
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Social Medicine and Cardiac Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem
*
Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, Jerusalem, Israel 91120

Abstract

In a prospective study of 372 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, we evaluated the relative contribution of host factors and patient care variables to the risk of postoperative wound infection. Host factors studied were age, sex, country of origin, the diagnosis for which the operation was performed and, for coronary artery by-pass operations, the functional cardiac status according to modified New York Heart Association criteria. The performance of more than one operation during a single admission carried the highest risk for infection, followed by a coronary artery by-pass operation lasting for more than six hours or performed on patients 65 years or older. In patients undergoing coronary artery by-pass surgery, host factors (age and cardiac function) were associated with infections in the chest wound, while the length of the operation was found to affect the occurrence of infections at the “donor” site.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1983

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.Friedberg, CK: Diseases of the Heart. ed 3. Philadelphia, WB Saunders Company, 1966, pp 241242.Google Scholar
2.Rothman, KJ: Computation of exact confidence intervals for the odds ratio. International Journal of Biomedical Computers 1975; 6:3139.Google Scholar
3.Brown, AH, Brainbridge, MV, Panagopoulus, P, et al: The complications of median sternotomy. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1969;58:189197.Google Scholar
4.Roy, AC, Penhall, JRH, Cameron, EWJ: Management of disrupted sternotomy. Thorax 1981; 36:676678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Simchen, E, Shapiro, M, Michel, J, et al. Multivariate analysis of determinants of post-operative wound infection, a possible basis for intervention. Rev Infect Dis 1981; 3:678682.Google Scholar
6.Naito, H, Toya, S, Shizawa, H, et al: High incidence of acute postoperative meningitis and septicemia in patients undergoing craniotomy with ventriculoatrial shunt. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1973; 137:810812.Google Scholar
7.Elkins, TE, Gallup, DG, Slanka, CV, et al: Post-operative morbidity in cases of cervical conization followed by vaginal hysterectomy. South Med J 1982; 75:264266.Google Scholar
8.Krizek, TJ. Davis, JH: Role of red cells in subcutaneous infection. J Trauma 1965; 5:8597.Google Scholar
9.Conely, MJ, Wechsler, AS, Anderson, RW, et al: The relationship of patient selection to prognosis following Aortocoronary by-pass. Circulation 1977; 55(1):158163.Google Scholar