The ICMR report found that the rate of Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) in three major hospitals in India was higher than that observed in many high-income countries.
A study involving 3,020 patients from three hospitals found that Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) are common in healthcare settings. The highest SSI rate, 54.2%, was seen in patients who underwent debridement surgeries, including amputation and internal fixation procedures. These infections lead to serious health issues, higher medical costs, and longer hospital stays.
There is a lack of data on post-discharge Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) in low- and middle-income countries, and India does not have a system in place to track SSIs after patients are discharged.
To fill this gap, a study was proposed to analyze the proportion of SSIs occurring during hospital stays and after discharge, as well as identify related risk factors. The study was conducted as a prospective multicentric cohort across three hospitals: Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNATC), Kasturba Hospital (KMC) in Manipal, and Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in Mumbai.
The study also found that the Surgical Site Infection (SSI) rate at the three hospitals was higher compared to many high-income countries, where the rate typically ranges from 1.2% to 5.2%. According to one of the researchers, the rate in this study was lower than the one reported in Gujarat (8.95%) but higher than in Dehradun (5%) and other countries like Iran (17.4%), Egypt (17%), and Pakistan (7.3%).
The study has been considered India's first multicentric systematic surveillance effort, monitoring patients for six months after they underwent various conventional surgeries. Of the 3,090 patients in the study, 161 developed SSIs, resulting in an overall SSI incidence of 5.2%.
It also says that wounds classified as clean but polluted and surgeries lasting more than 120 minutes were strongly associated with a higher risk of Surgical Site Infections (SSIs). It also showed that patients with SSIs had longer hospital stays.
Post-discharge surveillance proved effective in identifying 66% of SSI cases. Also, combination surgeries were found to increase the likelihood of SSIs, with post-discharge monitoring helping to diagnose 50% of these infections.