Risk Factors Related with Surgical Site Infections and the Effect on Cost in the General Surgery and Orthopedics Departments

Introduction: This study was planned to determine the rate of surgical site infection and to evaluate related risk factors and the effect on cost following surgical procedures in the Departments of Surgery and Orthopedics and Traumatology. Materials and Methods: Six hundred and twenty nine patients who underwent surgery were enrolled into the study. Incidence rates of clean, clean-contaminated, contaminated, and dirty-infected wounds were 3.2%, 16.4%, 32.7%, and 40.9%, respectively. Results: Older age, wound classification, malignancy, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular system disease, bleeding from wound, preoperative antibiotic usage, urgent surgery, secondary surgical operation, number and duration of drainage catheters, and shaving with blade prior to operation were risk factors significantly related with the occurrence of surgical site infection. Duration of hospitalization (28.6 ± 20.1 days) was significantly longer in patients with surgical site infection compared to the non-surgical site infection group (11.4 ± 8.1 days) (p< 0.001). The mortality rate was 12.7%, and it was higher in patients with surgical site infection compared to the non-surgical site infection group (1.3%) (p< 0.001). The mean cost was 5038 ± 4237 American dollars and 1305 ± 1249 American dollars for the groups with and without a history of surgical site infection, respectively (p< 0.001). Conclusion: To minimize the incidence of surgical site infection, possible risk factors related with the patient should be considered