Comparative Study of Post-Operative Wound Infection in Controlled Diabetic Patients with Non-Diabetic Patients in Elective Surgery Under Cover Of Prophylactic Antibiotics

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a systemic disease that alters the metabolism of blood sugar. Patients with DM incur risk of numerous systemic and complication-related micro angiopathies and neuropathies. Objective: To assess Post-Operative Wound Infection in Controlled Diabetic Patients with Non-Diabetic Patients in Elective Surgery Under Cover Of Prophylactic Antibiotics. Methods: A Prospective study was conducted at Department of Surgery, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh from January to Jun 2010. Total no. of patients in the study was 200. 100 of them are diabetic and other 100 are non-diabetic. Prophylactic cover of broad-spectrum antibiotic is given. Therapy is continued when there is unexpected contamination. Adult patients undergoing elective surgery. Results: Total 100 cases of diabetic patient and 100 case of non-diabetic patient of nearly same age group undergoing elective surgery under cover of prophylactic antibiotic. After operation blood glucose level in controlled diabetic group was significantly higher compared to their non-diabetic counterpart (p 0.05, level of significance is 0.05). Other infections after operation were almost identically distributed between groups. Around 8% of the patients in both the groups developed other infections like urinary tract infection and respiratory tract infection (p > 0.05). So, surgical complications (wound infection, others infection and hospital stay) in diabetic and non-diabetic, after controlling blood sugar level and proper preoperative management were not significantly different. Conclusion: Post-operative wound infection rate of diabetic and non-diabetic are 9% and 7% respectively. The mean post-operative hospital stay of controlled diabetic group and non-diabetic group is not significantly different. A large number of diabetic patients present with uncontrolled glycaemic status at presentation of surgery. So they require control of diabetes before surgery.