Surgical site infection incidence and risk factors in thoracic surgical procedures: A 12-year prospective cohort study

Surgical site infections (SSI) continue to be a major problem for thoracic surgery patients. We aimed to determine incidence rate (IR) and risk factors for SSI in patients with thoracic surgical procedures. During 12 years of hospital surveillance of patients with thoracic surgical procedures, we prospectively identified SSI. Patients with SSI were compared with patients without SSI. We operated 3,370 patients and 205 (6.1%) developed SSI postoperatively. We detected 190 SSI among open thoracic surgical procedures (IR 7.1%) and 15 SSI after video-assisted thoracic surgery (IR 2.1%). Five independent risk factors for SSI were identified: wound contamination (p = 0.013; relative risk (RR) 2.496; 95%, confidence interval (CI): 1.208-5.156), American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) score (p = 0.012; RR: 1.795; 95% CI: 1.136-2.834), duration of drainage (p < 0.001; RR: 1.117; 95% CI: 1.085-1.150), age (p = 0.036; RR: 1.018; 95% CI: 1.001-1.035) and duration of operation (p < 0.001; RR:1.005; 95% CI:1.002-1.008). The results are valuable in documenting risk factors for SSI in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. The knowledge and prevention of controllable risk factors is necessary in order to reduce the incidence of SSI.