Risk factors for surgical site infections

Abstract

Risk factors for surgical site infection are divided into three groups；patient factors, surgical factors and microbiology factors. Most of patient factors are unmodifiable or difficult to be modified, whereas surgical factors are generally modifiable. Those modifications are recommended as practices to prevent SSI. Furthermore, novel prevention strategies have been developed using novel knowledge and devices, and implemented into the current surgical practice. On the other hand, unmodifiable factors for SSI should be used when adjusting the frequency of SSI in evaluating it as a surrogate of appropriateness of practices. Initially, the number of factors used when adjusting the risk for SSI was small, but it is gradually getting bigger. Research toward identifying novel risk factors for SSI and applying them to the prevention of SSI or using them for surveillance purposes is necessary.