Do Young Women Have High Infection Risk After Caesarean Surgery?

A recent study on cesarian surgeries in Hyderabad revealed that young women and obese women are at a higher risk of Surgical Site Infection (SSI). The study titled 'Prospective Cohort Study of Surgical Site Infections Following Single-Dose Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Caesarean Section at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Medchal,' published in the Jan edition of 'PLOS One' journal revealed that 4.6 per cent developed SSI. Out of these, 99 per cent were superficial infections with young women and obese women at higher risk. Read on to learn more about these findings.

As per the reports, around 2,015 participants with a mean age of 24 years were part of the research. Out of these, 92 participants developed superficial SSI while one of the participants developed a deep wound infection. Among the ones who developed SSI, 84 of them contracted the infection during their stay in the hospital. Eight of them developed the infection at home. 

The adjusted relative risk of developing the infection was 2.5 among obese women and 2.3 among women of age 25 or less.  

How was the research conducted?

The infections were detected using CDC criteria within 30 days after the operations. A single dose of prophylactic antibiotic and cefazolin was administered to the participants. If these were not available, injection cefotaxime was given 30 minutes to one hour before the skin incision of both the elective and emergency caesarean surgery. 

The researchers claimed, "We found that obesity is a strong risk factor for developing SSI. A meta-analysis has revealed that obese pregnant women have a higher risk of wound infections in all settings. The practice of a higher dose of antibiotics for obese women may prevent the SSI risk."

Staphylococcus aureus, a gram-positive organism, was the most common organism in the caesarean wound infection. Other organisms were Klebsiella and E. coli. 

What do the researchers recommend?

The lead author of the study was Kalpana Basany of the Society for Health Allied Research and Education in Medicine Institute of Medical Scientists. Researchers from the Indian Institute of Public Health and other hospitals in the city also participated in the study. 

The researchers recommend that there should be continuous vigilance on SSI control measures at the hospital level.