Postoperative wound infection in pediatric surgical patients: A study of 676 infants and children

We conducted an epidemiologic study of postoperative wound infection in pediatric patients. Over a 14-month period, 676 patients who received an operative incision on the Pediatric Surgical service were entered. Demographic, nutritional, clinical, and laboratory data were collected. The patients were followed for development of postoperative wound infection. Cultures were taken from wounds to identify the offending organisms. Of the 676 patients, 137 were neonates, 197 infants, and 342 older children. Wound infection occurred in 17 patients (2.5%): 1 neonate (0.7%), 8 infants (4.1%), and 8 older children (2.3%). Infection rates according to wound classification were: clean 1.0%, cleancontaminated 2.9%, contaminated 7.9%, and dirty 6.3%. Heavily contaminated or dirty wounds were packed open in one third of cases, and allowed to heal by granulation. The largest group of wound infections followed operations on the gastrointestinal tract (10 patients, 267 operations, 3.7%). Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and alpha hemolytic streptococcus were the most common wound pathogens. An increased rate of wound infection was associated with operative procedures longer than 1 hour, with the presence of an associated illness, and with emergency operations. Age, sex, nutritional status, and duration of preoperative hospital stay did not significantly alter the wound infection rate. It could be concluded that the incidence of wound infection was lower among pediatric surgical patients than the reported incidence in adult surgical patients. The greatest risk factors were those associated with local contamination of the surgical wound.