ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Infections are surgical severe adverse events that pose risks to patient safety in health services, in addition to increasing costs and morbidity and mortality. AIM: This study aims to describe the infectious profile of patients undergoing cardiac surgery and associate comorbidities and lifestyle habits with surgical wound infection. DESIGN: Observational and retrospective study. METHODS: The study included 453 patients undergoing cardiac surgery in a public teaching hospital from January 2014 to January 2019. Data were collected from the clinical records through an instrument composed of variables clinical characteristics, comorbidities, life habits, infection rates, infectious agents, clinical management and surgical wound features. Simple frequency, measures of central tendency and variability, Chi-Square test and logistic regression were used for data analysis. RESULTS: There was a predominance of hypertensive patients (367; 81%), smokers (107; 23.6%), alcoholics (76; 16.8%). Surgical wound infection affected 86 (19%) patients. Besides, most patients were under antibiotic therapy (310; 68.4%). Klebsiella pneumoniae; Staphylococcus epidermides and Staphylococcus aureus were the most frequent pathogens. Diabetes Mellitus, nephropathy and age were statistically significant (P<0.05) for higher risk of surgical wound infection. CONCLUSION: Chronic diseases and lifestyle habits were related to postoperative infection. More research is needed, focusing on risk factors for the development of surgical wound infection.
