Hospitalization before surgery increases risk for postoperative infections

Objectives Exposure to a health care facility before surgery may increase risk for postoperative infections. Our objectives were to (1) determine whether the prevalence of postoperative infections was higher among patients who were hospitalized before cardiac surgery, (2) identify risk factors for infection, and (3) evaluate in-hospital outcomes. Methods A total of 32,707 patients underwent cardiac surgery from January 1, 2000, to January 1, 2011. Forty percent (13,107) were hospitalized before their surgery date or were transfers from other health care facilities, and 60% (19,600) were same-day admissions. The primary outcome consisted of a composite infection: pneumonia, sepsis, surgical site infection, and urinary tract infection. The secondary outcome was in-hospital death. The propensity method was used to compare infectious complications and mortality between groups. Results Overall infectious complications occurred in 2327 patients (7.1%). Overall composite and individual infections decreased over the study period ( P for trend