A new study suggests there are eight key risk factors for surgical site infection after an abdominal hysterectomy, including obesity and a longer procedure duration.
The findings were published March 29 in the American Journal of Infection Control and are based on an analysis of about 66,000 abdominal hysterectomies performed across New York hospitals from 2015 to 2018. Overall, there were 1,093 surgical site infections reported among the procedures analyzed.
Researchers found the following factors were associated with a higher risk of surgical site infection after the surgery: obesity, prolonged procedure duration, younger than 45, diabetes, wound contamination, an open approach (versus laparoscopic), gynecological cancer and an American Society of Anesthesia score of three or higher.
"Improved understanding of patient-related, clinical and surgical factors associated with SSI in hysterectomy, a common surgical procedure in the United States, could help to reduce infections and improve risk models," Boldtsetseg Tserenpuntsag, DrPH, lead study author and research scientist at the New York State Department of Health, said in a news release from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. "As far as we know, our findings are derived from the most comprehensive dataset to date, making them more generalizable as compared to previous studies on this subject."