Surgical site infection prevalence and associated factors in Hawassa University comprehensive specialized hospital, southern Ethiopia.

Abstract

Background Surgical site infections (SSIs) continue the main problem in health care facilities, causing the prolonged length of stay, considerable morbidity, mortality, and the extra cost to patients after surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of SSIs and explore its associated factors among surgical patients at Hawassa university comprehensive specialized hospital, southern Ethiopia.Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among post-operative patients on a sample of 281 who were admitted and have had surgery from 1 March – 1 April 2019. Purposive sampling technique and the structured questioner were selected to gather data from the patient's medical record, interview, and observation. EPI Info 3.5.4 was a data entry software and SPSS version 20.0 was selected for analysis. Associations among variables were assessed by binary logistic regression.Result A total of 281 patients have participated and the mean age was 30.3 (±18.9) years. The prevalence of SSIs was (24.6%) (95% CI 19.6 – 29.69). Age less than 15 years AOR = 0.131 (95% CI 0.020, 0.087), having clean surgical wound AOR = 0.006 (95% CI 0.002, 0.024) were significant protective associated factors to SSIs while having open surgical wound AOR =5.189 (95% CI 1.511, 17.821) and malnutrition AOR =29.351 (95% CI 5.711, 150.851) were significant risk associated factors to SSIs.Conclusion The prevalence of SSIs was bigger than the worldwide range between (1.2%) and (5.2%) even higher compared to reports from several developing countries. This needs exceptional attention to reduce the odds of surgical site infection by standardizing patient care and controlling of comorbidities.

Magnitude of Surgical Site Infections, Bacterial Etiologies, Associated Factors and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Isolates Among Post-Operative Patients in Harari Region Public Hospitals, Harar, Eastern Ethiopia

“…This study found that the prevalence of SSI was higher in patients with dirty and contaminated wound types than those patients with clean wounds. This finding is consistent with reports from Uganda, 15 Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 and Mekelle, Ethiopia. 11 The significant influence of endogenous contamination during the operation or exogenous contamination during the wound care procedure might be a scientifically justifiable reason.…”

“…In this study, the overall prevalence of SSI was 11.8% which is consistent with the study carried out in Rwanda (10.2%) 14 and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia (10.2%), 7 but relatively lower when compared with studies conducted in Uganda (16.4%), 15 Egypt (67.6%), 8 Hawassa, Ethiopia (24.6%), 16 and Mekelle, Ethiopia (29.8%). 11 Besides, this finding is higher compared with studies conducted in Peru (2.5%) 17 and Saudi Arabia (2.2%).…”

“…It is line with the study done in Hawassa where the prevalence of SSI was found higher in older age groups. 16 On the contrary, a study done by Asres et al in Addis Ababa contradicts this finding since infection was predominantly observed in under 10 years age group. 5 In this regard, the prevalence of SSIs was varied among the age group in the previous studies, and it might be related to the participants' immunity status as well.…”

“…This study indicated that the prevalence of SSI among alcohol consumers was higher than non-users, which is in line with the study conducted in Egypt, 8 and Hawassa, Ethiopia. 16 The association might be due to the fact that chronic alcohol consumption weakens the immune system and hence delays the healing of wounds. 15 …”

“…The findings are consistent with the previous reports from Rwanda 14 and Hawassa, Ethiopia. 16 The higher odds of SSI in prolonged surgical procedures is attributed to a decrease in the use of aseptic measures during surgery due to fatigue, tissue hypoxia due to increased blood loss.…”