Abstract

Surgical wound infections have been studied prospectively in 715 patients between the years 1994-1995. Patients were evaluated for age, sex, emergency or elective operation, length of preoperative hospitalization, Diabetes Mellitus, prophylactic antibiotic, wound contamination and drainage of the wounds. Multiple regression test was used to evaluate multiple factors in the study. The predictive value of the test was 95% (F=25.6, p<0.00001). Wound infections were found closely related (p<0.00001) with the Diabetes Mellitus, prophylactic antibiotic, contamination and drainage of the wounds. It has been understood that, four significant factors and having an emergency operation together could explain the cause of infections in 90% of surgical wounds.