Factors Associated with Surgical Site Infection at University of Ghana Hospital, Accra, Ghana.

Abstract

Background Surgical site infections (SSI) are the most common healthcare-associated infections in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries, and the second most common in Europe. SSI are the most preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Aseptic technique and infection control practices are the major avenues to reduce the incidence of SSI. Accurate assessment and adequate risk factor modification is the other modality for reducing the risk of SSI. This study ‘estimated the prevalence of SSI in Legon hospital and some risk factors that may affect the chances of a patient developing a SSI Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2021 to October 2023. In total, 388 client folders that had complete information was extracted using an in-built information extraction tool of the HIS. Demographic information was summarized with descriptive statistics while inferential statistics (Chi2 and logistic regression) was used to test associations between factors and SSI. The results were presented as tables. Results A total of 388 folders were analyzed. The median age was 26ys with a range of 1-81years. The largest age ground was 20–30-year-olds (58.3%). Females made up 52.6% (n=204) of the population and the highest proportion of participants had secondary education (71.9%, n= 279). Most patients, 65.2%, had their procedure as in-patients and of these 85.8 % stayed between one and three days. Most wounds, 64.4%, lasted between eleven and thirty days. The prevalence of SSI was 20.1% (95%CI= 16.4-24.4). Logistic regression showed that age > 10yrs was associated with 1.02 increased odds of SSI (p = 0.003). Pearson Chi2 tests showed clean wound had an increased risk SSI as compared to contaminated wounds (2 (1) =10.91, p = 0.001). Again, logistic regression showed duration of wound 11-30 days was a positive predictor of SSI (p < 0.001). Conclusion The study showed that the prevalence of SSI is relatively high in the facility. It also found that older age, clean wounds and infections in wounds after 11days was associated with SSI