Occurrence of surgical site infection in a university hospital of Minas Gerais

Abstract

This is an epidemiological study that aims to identify risk factors for surgical site infections (SSI) in patients who underwent surgery between 2003 and 2007 in a public university hospital of Uberaba, Minas Gerais. In this period, 229 patients had ISS and 138 agreed to participate in the study. Data were obtained from the patient's records and at the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results show that 54.35% of the patients were female; the mean age was 42.2 years; 49.28% were smokers; 36.96% used alcohol; 40.57% had a clinical co morbidity (hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, kidney problems); 38.40% had an associated infection; 5.07% were overweight or obese; 6.52% used immunosuppressive drugs and the average number of days in hospital before the surgery was 2.34 days, ranging from 0 to 30 days. We noticed that 36.95% of the surgeries were contaminated, 32.60% were potentially contaminated, 21.73% were infected and 7.97% were clean. Most part (83.34%) of the patients underwent emergency or urgency surgeries; 46.37% of the surgeries were major ones and 28.98% were medium-sized. The majority of the patients (68.84%) had no drains in the postoperative period. In most cases (97.10%) an antibiotic had been used. Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis were the most prevalent microorganisms. Considering that most cases of ISS were after urgency/emergency surgeries, we highlight the importance of preventive measures and of infection control in both pre-hospital care and in urgency care.