Table 3

Demographic and preoperative risk factor variables of patients with and without surgical site infection

VariableGroup; no. (%) of patients*p value
No SSI
n = 282
SSI
n = 55
Age, yr, median (IQR)40 (31–52)54 (43–61)< 0.001
Sex
 Male104 (36.9)40 (73)< 0.001
 Female178 (63.1)15 (27)
Body mass index, median (IQR)29 (25–36)27 (25–31)0.02
ASA score< 0.001
 1143 (50.7)16 (29)
 2107 (37.9)13 (24)
 331 (11.0)18 (33)
 41 (0.4)6 (11)
 50 (0.0)2 (4)
Diabetic52 (18.4)18 (33)0.02
Smoking status0.004
 Smoker36 (12.8)5 (9)
 Former smoker8 (2.8)5 (9)
 Nonsmoker216 (76.6)34 (62)
 Unknown22 (7.8)11 (20)
Steroid use11 (3.9)4 (7)0.3
Chemotherapy6 (2.1)4 (7)0.04
Preoperative hemoglobin level, g/L, median (IQR)13 (12–14)12 (11–14)0.1
Preoperative albumin level, g/L, median (IQR)36 (33–38)31 (26–35)< 0.001
Benign disease267 (94.7)33 (60)< 0.001
  • ASA = American Society of Anesthesiologists; IQR = interquartile range; SSI = surgical site infection.

  • * Except where noted otherwise.

  • Wilcoxon test.

  • Pearson test.