Incidence of Surgical Site Infection and Compliance with Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Cesarean Section in a Community Hospital in Qatar

The current study aimed at describing the incidence, etiology of surgical site infections (SSI), and compliance with antibiotic prophylaxis in cesarean section during a 3.5 years period in a community hospital.
Prospective data were collected to monitor the incidence of SSI and compliance with antibiotic prophylaxis in 450 patients undergoing the procedure from January 2013 to June 2016.
The mean age of the patients was 31.8 years, 14.3% had diabetes mellitus, 4.73% had overweight, and 54.4% of the procedures were elective; also, 69.8% of the procedures had risk index (RI) 0, 26.3% RI 1, and 16 patients had RI 2 and 3. Nine patients with SSI were reported, 8 with superficial incisional and 1 organ-space infections. The pooled infection rate in 2013 was 4.44%, followed by 1.10% in 2014, 1.52% in 2015, and 2.56% in January to June 2016; in addition, 1.04% of the study subjects were RI 0 and 4.50% RI 1. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was identified in 2 patients, and Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumonia in 1 patient, respectively. Compliance with antibiotic prophylaxis increased from 53.5% in 2013 to 94.9% in January to June 2016.
The current study findings showed the effect of a multidimensional program to prevent surgical site infection in cesarean section, and the need to strengthen it.