Post-operative site infections among surgical patients at Southern Ethiopia: A prospective cohort study.

Objective: The current study was conducted to estimate the magnitude of SSI among surgically treated patients and identify the predictors associated with it.

Background: summary: Despite the fact that surgical site infection (SSI) is still a global health care-associated infection related to patients' discomfort, morbidity, and mortality, it is the most preventable nosocomial infection if all necessary measures are taken into account.

Methods: An institution-based prospective cohort study was conducted at a large teaching hospital in southern Ethiopia. Patients admitted to the surgical ward with a non-traumatic acute abdomen were participants in the study and were followed prospectively for 30 days. The collected data was entered into Epi-Data 4 and exported to STATA 16 for analysis. A logistic regression (bi-variable and multivariable) model was computed to detect the association between SSI and predictors. In the final model, variables with a p-value <0.05 were declared statistically significant.

Results: In this study, a total of 169 patients were enrolled. More than 3/4th (78.9%) of them were male, and the mean ± SD age of participants was 42.14 ± 12.5 years. Eighteen participants (10.5%) suffered from surgical site infection (SSI). Predictors of SSI were ever smoking [AOR = 3.9; 95% CI (1.2-16.5)], American Society of Anesthesiologists score ≥3 [AOR = 8.9; 95% CI (1.7-45.5)], appendectomy [AOR = 7.7; 95% CI (1.3-45.7)], and co-morbid diabetes [AOR = 13.8; 95% CI (2.6-72.1)].

Conclusion: The magnitude of SSI was considerable in the study setting. Predictors of SSI were smoking, ASA score, appendectomy, and co-morbid diabetes. We strongly recommend that health-care professionals provide health education and patient counseling on smoking and health-seeking behaviors. Considering co-morbid conditions before surgery has paramount importance. Moreover, further large-scale studies are suggested.