Performance, revision, and extension of the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance system's risk index in Brazilian hospitals.

Objective: To assess the benefit of using procedure-specific alternative cutoff points for National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) risk index variables and of extending surgical site infection (SSI) risk prediction models with a postdischarge surveillance indicator.

Design: Open, retrospective, validation cohort study.

Setting: Five private, nonuniversity Brazilian hospitals.

Accounting for incomplete postdischarge follow-up during surveillance of surgical site infection by use of the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance system's risk index.

Objective: We examined the usefulness of a simple method to account for incomplete postdischarge follow-up during surveillance of surgical site infection (SSI) by use of the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system's risk index.

Design: Retrospective cohort study that used data prospectively collected from 1993 through 2006.

Setting: Five private, nonuniversity healthcare facilities in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Comparison of the risk of surgical site infection after laparoscopic cholecystectomy and open cholecystectomy.

We assessed the independent contributions of the surgical approach and other variables of the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (NNIS) surgical patient component to the surgical site infection risk after cholecystectomy. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was associated with a lower overall risk of surgical site infection and a lower risk of incisional infection but not a reduced risk of organ-space infection, compared with open cholecystectomy. The contribution of most of the variables of the NNIS surgical patient component to the risk of surgical site infection depended on the depth of the infection.

Factors influencing the risk of surgical site infection following diagnostic exploration of the abdominal cavity.

Objectives: We assessed the contribution of the surgical approach and the NNIS system's surgical component variables to surgical site infection (SSI) risk after diagnostic exploration of the abdominal cavity.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study with prospective data collection (1993-2006) in five private, non-universitary, secondary or tertiary healthcare facilities. Outcome variable was SSI development within 30 days after surgery.

C-reactive protein-guided approach may shorten length of antimicrobial treatment of culture-proven late-onset sepsis: an intervention study.

Late-onset sepsis (LOS) (i.e., sepsis in a neonate after 72 hours of life) is associated with high mortality and significantly prolonged antibiotic exposure and hospital stay in neonates admitted to intensive care units (ICU).

A 10-year prospective surveillance of nosocomial infections in neonatal intensive care units.

Background: We report on nosocomial infections (NIs), causative organisms, and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in neonates who were admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and assess the performance of birth weight (BW) as a variable for risk-stratified NI rate reporting.

Methods: A prospective, 10-year follow-up, open cohort study that involved six Brazilian NICUs was conducted. The NI incidence rates were calculated using different denominators.

Risk factors for nosocomial infection in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Objective: To determine risk factors for nosocomial infection in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Design: A prospective, open cohort study.

Setting: A 22-bed NICU.