Related factors to surgical wound infections in hospitalized patients

Introduction. Surgical Wound Infections (SWI) are currently some of the kinds of Cross infections occurring more frequently in infections worldwide, causing in some cases, conditions that reduce their quality of life and including increased morbidity. (1-3) Materials and methods. We performed a retrospective, quantitative case-control study in hospitalized patients and surgically conducted. The presence of infection was defined on the CDC criteria for Cross infections (2-3). These variables were taken into associated healthcare, disease, type of surgical procedure, patient history and use of medical devices. Patients under 5 and over 65 years were excluded, and those who entered the Intensive Care Unit. Results. Between January first and December 31, 2013, 182 cases of cross infections were diagnosed, of which 23 cases occurred in hospitalized patients who had surgery. 4 men (17.4%) and 19 women (82.6%) that had the event of interest were found. For DM exposure frequency of 8.7% was found in the cases, and ETS exposure frequency of 8.7% among cases versus 5.8% in controls. Only the presence of DM showed a statistically significant association with the presence of SWI (p < 0.05). When analyzing independently the OR found and adjusted OR, shows that a statistically significant relationship between the risk factors studied and the presence of infection was not established. Conclusions. For the studied variables, a statistically significant association with the presence of SWI was not founded. This is possibly because the institution where the study was conducted, the event is not explained by the variables analyzed, but may have regard to other factors that have been studied in the field of patient safety, as is hand hygiene, the workload of medical staff, among others.