To Assess the Incidence and Factors Predisposing to Surgical Site Infection (SSI) in Patients Who Have Undergone Caesarean Section in Tertiary Care Hospital of Udupi District, Karnataka- A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Caesarean Section (CS) is a life-saving surgical procedure when certain complications arise during

pregnancy and labour. Currently, 18.6% of all births occur by cesarean section globally. Aim: To determine

the incidence of surgical site infections in patients who have undergone Caesarean Section through record

analysis and to identify the factors predisposing to surgical site infections (SSI) with Caesarean Section (CS).

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional survey design was used for this study. The study was conducted at

tertiary care hospital of Udupi district, Karnataka from January 2017 to March 2017. Consecutive 305 post

operative case records of Caesarean Section were enrolled in the study. The sample is selected purposively

as per their availability in record room. Methods: It was a retrospective study screening the records of

pregnant women who underwent cesarean section in selected tertiary care hospital from 1st January 2015

to 31st December 2015 and came for followup or readmission with surgical site infection at the incision

site or not got discharged due to surgical site infection for a period of 6 weeks. Results: A total of 305

record are viewed, about 35.8% (n=107) were performed in elective and 64.92% (n=198) undertaken on

emergency list. A total of 20 post-operative cases diagnosed with Surgical Site Infection were studied during

the specified period. Of these n=17 (85%) had superficial infection and n=2 (10%) deep SSI and n=1 (5%)

had organ space SSI. Odds ratio calculation and p-value calculation shows that booking status and wound

closing material are responsible to develop SSI.