Alcohol consumption and the risk of nosocomial infection in general surgery.

Background: Alcohol consumption increases community-acquired infections and affects the immune system. The aim of this report was to analyse whether drinking increases the risk of nosocomial infection.

Methods: This was a prospective study of 1505 patients admitted consecutively to a general surgical department.

Alcohol drinking as a predictor of intensive care and hospital mortality in general surgery: a prospective study.

Aims: To analyse whether alcohol drinking increases admission to intensive care and in-hospital mortality in general surgery.

Design And Participants: A prospective cohort study on a consecutive series of 1505 hospitalized patients in a Service of General Surgery of a tertiary hospital.

Measurements: Drinking pattern was defined by quantity, frequency and volume of drinking.

A prospective study of tobacco smoking as a predictor of complications in general surgery.

Objective: To analyze whether tobacco smoking is related to nosocomial infection, admission to the intensive care unit, in-hospital death, and length of stay.

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: The Service of General Surgery of a tertiary-care hospital.

Cholesterol and serum albumin levels as predictors of cross infection, death, and length of hospital stay.

Hypothesis: The levels of cholesterol, its fractions (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C] and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]), and serum albumin reflect nutritional status and are related to in-hospital death, nosocomial infection, and length of stay in the hospital.

Design: A prospective cohort study of hospitalized patients.

Setting: The Service of General Surgery of a tertiary hospital.