Prevalence and Risk Factors of postoperative wound infection in elderly surgical patients
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22813425Keywords:
surgical site infection, wound infection, elderly, risk factors, surgical outcomesAbstract
Background: Postoperative wound infection is a leading cause of surgical morbidity, and advancing age has repeatedly been identified as an independent risk factor, though the relative contribution of age itself versus age-associated comorbidity remains incompletely characterized [5,6].
Objective: This study examines the prevalence of postoperative wound infection among elderly surgical patients and identifies the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors most consistently associated with infection in this population.
Methods: We synthesized surveillance and cohort data on wound infection in patients aged 65 years and older, using CDC/NHSN case definitions and wound classification, and examined patient-, procedure-, and process-related risk factor domains reported across multicenter cohorts and trials [3,4].
Results: Wound infection prevalence rose steadily with age, from roughly 4-5% under 65 years to over 10% beyond 75 years, and was highest among patients with poor glycemic control, active smoking, elevated frailty scores, and contaminated wound classification [4,18,15]. Guideline-concordant antisepsis and prophylaxis timing were associated with lower infection rates across the reviewed cohorts [25,24].
Conclusions: Elderly surgical patients carry a distinctly higher wound infection risk, driven by a definable and partly modifiable set of patient- and process-level factors; routine age-stratified surveillance and structured preoperative risk assessment are warranted to reduce this burden [20,21].
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