ArticleBMC surgery2024
Assessing the impact of enhanced hygiene precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical site infection risk in abdominal surgeries.
Article in BMC surgery, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Interpreting Abdominal Surgical-Site Infection Trends Across the COVID-19 Shock: A Critical Narrative Review and the SSI Signal-Validity Framework.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Etiologic Patterns and Evolution of Healthcare-Associated Infections in the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Periods: A County-Level Multicenter Study from Southeastern Romania.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Trends and Challenges of Surgical Site Infections Burden in Croatia: A Nationwide Comparative Analysis of Two Point Prevalence Surveys (2017-2023).Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Impact of enhanced hospital infection prevention measures during-COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of surgical site infections following spinal instrumentation surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis: A nationwide database study.North American Spine Society journal · 2025Article
- Comparison of surgical site infection in pediatric patients using NSQIP-P data during COVID-19 pandemic and non-pandemic periods.Pediatric surgery international · 2025Article
- Predictors of Post-Caesarean Surgical Site Infections at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital, Central Uganda: Prospective Cohort Study (July-September 2023).International journal of women's health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA surgical site infection (SSI) is a postoperative infection that occurs at or near the surgical incision. SSIs significantly increase morbidity, mortality, length of hospital stay, and healthcare costs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has established hospital hygiene precaution guidelines for the prevention of SSIs, which were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study aims to explore the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on SSI incidence among initially uninfected postoperative patients. We hypothesize that these enhanced precautions would reduce the incidence of SSIs. MATERIALS AND
methodsA retrospective study comparing surgical outcomes before and during the pandemic. Patients who had abdominal surgery between June and December 2019 (Non-COVID-19) or between February and June 2020 (COVID-19) were included. The two groups were matched in a 1:1 ratio based on age, Sex, acuity (elective or emergent), surgical approach, and comorbidities. Electronic medical records were reviewed to identify SSIs and hospital readmissions within 30 days after surgery. Pearson's chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used.
resultsData was collected and analyzed from 976 patients who had surgery before the COVID-19 pandemic (non-COVID group) and 377 patients who had surgery during the pandemic (COVID group). After matching, there were 377 patients in each group. In our study, we found 23 surgical site infections (SSIs) in both laparoscopic and open surgeries. The incidence of SSIs was significantly higher in the non-COVID period compared to the COVID period [17 cases (4.5%) vs. 6 cases (1.6%), respectively, p = 0.032], especially in non-COVID open surgeries. The incidence of SSIs in laparoscopic surgeries was also higher during the non-COVID period, but not statistically significant.
conclusionsEnhanced hygiene precautions during the COVID -19 pandemic may have reduced SSIs rates following abdominal surgery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.