Post-caesarean section surgical site infection: rate and risk factors.

Objective: To identify the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) post-caesarean section, and important contributory risk factors.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted to identify cases with SSI, using as a population all the caesarean sections for the 6-month period from 16 March 2009-15 September 2009 performed at Waikato Hospital (n=526). Cases (n=25) were compared with randomly selected controls (n=50) to identify important risk factors.

Results: In total, 25 of the 526 patients (5%) had a SSI post-caesarean section. Of these, 15 were revealed during the initial admission (3%), and the other 10 required hospital care post-discharge for treatment of infection (2%). The key risk factors for surgical site infection post-caesarean section identified were elevated BMI, longer duration of labour, and having an emergency procedure.

Conclusions: This study has identified significant risk factors for surgical site infection post-caesarean section. Identification of these risk factors reminds obstetric staff that appropriate targeting of infection reducing strategies to women at high risk is needed.