Risk factors associated with an increased risk of deep sternal wound infections in patients after coronary artery bypass grafting and heart defect surgery

Abstract

Introduction Despite improvements over time with regard to morbidity, mortality and long-term survival, deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) continues to be a major complication after an open-heart surgery (1,2). It is important to identify possible risk factors for postoperative development of DSWI in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and valve replacement. Aim. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors for postoperative development of DSWI in patients after CABG and heart defect surgery at the Department of Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery of the hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Methods. This retrospective study analyzed 201 patients who underwent CABG and heart defect surgery between January 2017 and December 2017. The case group contained 45 patients who had to be reoperated because of DSWI and the control group consisted of 156 randomly selected patients. For descriptive statistics we used means, median values, ranges, standard deviations and 95% confidence intervals where appropriate. Categorical data were analyzed using the chi-square or Fisher's exact test. T-test and Mann-Whitney used to compare numerical variables. Logistic regression model adjusting for age, gender, were used to compare the risk of infection. A p value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant STATA v13 was used for calculations. Results. Logistic regression analysis revealed that independent risk factors for DSWI were: high BMI (odds ratio [OR] 3.14), long duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (odds ratio [OR] 2.26) and intraoperative anemia (odds ratio [OR] - 3.8).[...].