Association of Respiratory Tract Infection after Gastroenterological Surgery with Postoperative Duration of Hospitalization and Medical Expenses: Subanalysis of Data from a Multicenter Study

Abstract

Background Postoperative infections may be classified as surgical site infections developing within surgical sites or remote infections developing in areas outside the surgical site. Postoperative respiratory tract infections (PRTI) are a type of remote infection, and may be associated with a prolonged hospitalization period and increased medical expenses. The aim of this study is to compare postoperative hospitalization and medical expenses between patients with PRTI and non PRTI after gastrointestinal surgery. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data from a multicenter joint study involving multiple centers affiliated to the Japan Society for Surgical Infection. We used a one-to-one matching analysis to evaluate 86 patients who underwent gastrointestinal surgery between March 1, 2014 and February 29, 2016. Results There was a significant increase in the postoperative hospitalization period among patients with PRTI (38.6 days) compared with patients without PRTI (16.1 days). Furthermore, postoperative medical expenses were significantly higher in patients with PRTI (1388.2 USD) than in those without PRTI (629.4 USD). Conclusions The hospitalization period and medical expenses are known to increase in patients that develop surgical site infections. Our findings show that these parameters also increase in patients with PRTI following gastrointestinal surgery. However, further studies are needed to confirm these results.

Do postoperative infectious complications really affect long‐term survival in colorectal cancer surgery? A multicenter retrospective cohort study

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