Semmelweis University presented a Publication Award for NSCD’s research team for the following study.
Risk factors for surgical site infection in elective routine degenerative lumbar surgeries
Istvan Klemencsics, MD, Aron Lazary, MD, Zsolt Szoverfi, MD, Arpad Bozsodi, MD, Peter Eltes, MD, Peter Pal Varga, MD
Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most serious complications of spine surgery. Its predisposing factors, especially in routine surgeries, are less reported. However, a number of patient- and procedure-related risk factors could be avoided or at least determined preoperatively. Moreover, the patient-specific risk for SSI could be estimated before the elective surgery.
The aim of the present study was to analyze the preoperatively determinable risk factors for SSI in patients who require elective routine surgery related to lumbar disc degeneration and to build a multivariable model for the individual risk prediction.
Analysis of prospectively collected standardized clinical data and the validation of the results on an independent prospective cohort were performed.
The prevalence of SSI was 3.5% and 3.9% in the test and in the validation cohorts, respectively. The final multivariable regression model predictive (p=.003) for SSI contained the patient's age, body mass index (BMI), and the presence of 5 comorbidities, such as diabetes, ischemic heart disease, arrhythmia, chronic liver disease, and autoimmune disease as risk factors. The c-index of the model was 0.71, showing good discriminative ability, and it was confirmed by the data of the independent validation cohort (c=0.72).
Predisposing factors for SSI were older age, higher BMI, and the presence of certain comorbidities in the present study. The cumulative number of risk factors significantly associated with the increasing risk for an SSI (p<.0001). Our model needs further validation but it may be used for individual risk assessment and reduction in the future.
https://www.thespinejournalonline.com/article/S1529-9430(16)30869-5/fulltext
