Adherence to guidelines for prevention of postsplenectomy sepsis. Age and sex are risk factors: a five-year retrospective review.

Background: Vaccination, education and use of long-term antibiotics are recommended in expert guidelines for the prevention of infectious complications after splenectomy. However, studies outside Australia have shown poor adherence to the guidelines.

Method: The aim of this study was to determine overall adherence to the guidelines and to ascertain any independent risk factors for poor compliance with the guidelines.