Elsevier

The Journal of Arthroplasty

Volume 25, Issue 8, December 2010, Pages 1216-1222.e3
The Journal of Arthroplasty

Incidence and Risk Factors for Deep Surgical Site Infection After Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arth.2009.08.011Get rights and content

Abstract

Although deep surgical site infection (SSI) is a major complication of primary total hip arthroplasty (THA), there are conflicting data regarding the incidence of deep SSI, and no comprehensive evaluation of the associated risk factors has been undertaken. We performed a systematic review of the literature; undertaking computer-aided searches of electronic databases, assessment of methodological quality, and a best-evidence synthesis. The incidence of SSI ranged from 0.2% before discharge to 1.1% for the period up to and including 5 years post surgery. Greater severity of a pre-existing illness and a longer duration of surgery were found to be independent risk factors for deep SSI. There is a need for high-quality, prospective studies to further identify modifiable risk factors for deep SSI after THA.

Section snippets

Criteria for Including Studies

We included studies in this review that (i) were observational in design, (ii) were published between January 2000 and June 2008 (and reported data after 1990) due to significant changes in hip prostheses and postsurgical management over time, (iii) investigated deep SSI (but were not limited to a specific pathogen), (iv) included more than 100 patients who had unilateral or bilateral primary THA surgery, and (v) reported data on the incidence and/or risk factors for deep SSI, not on specific

Study Identification

From our electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL, we identified 328, 272 and 14 potentially relevant abstracts respectively. From these 614 abstracts, we identified 21 studies that needed to be considered in detail to determine their relevance. Ten studies met our inclusion criteria 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Eleven studies were excluded as they (i) were not published in English 18, 19, (ii) had a sample size less than 100 20, 21, (iii) did not specifically investigate deep

Discussion

This systematic review found that the incidence of SSI ranged from 0.2% before discharge to 1.1% for the period up to and including 5 years postsurgery. Greater severity of a pre-existing illness and a longer duration of surgery were found to be independent risk factors for deep SSI. Given that single cohort studies only provided limited evidence for an association between a number of patient and hospital-related risk factors and deep SSI, there is a need for high quality, prospective studies

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation. DU, FH, and AW were supported by NHMRC Fellowships (grant nos. 284402, 418961, and 317840 respectively) and SB by an NHMRC PhD scholarship (519404).

References (34)

  • BlomA.W. et al.

    Infection after total hip arthroplasty. The Avon experience

    J Bone Joint Surg Br

    (2003)
  • MahomedN.N. et al.

    Rates and outcomes of primary and revision total hip replacement in the United States medicare population

    J Bone Joint Surg Am

    (2003)
  • KatzJ.N. et al.

    Association between hospital and surgeon procedure volume and outcomes of total hip replacement in the United States medicare population

    J Bone Joint Surg Am

    (2001)
  • HoogendoornW. et al.

    Physical load during work and leisure time as risk factors for back pain

    Scand J Work Environ Health

    (1999)
  • LievenseA. et al.

    Influence of obesity on the development of osteoarthritis of the hip: a systematic review

    Rheumatology

    (2002)
  • SolomonD.H. et al.

    Contribution of hospital characteristics to the volume-outcome relationship: Dislocation and infection following total hip replacement surgery

    Arthritis and Rheum

    (2002)
  • RidgewayS. et al.

    Infection of the surgical site after arthroplasty of the hip

    J Bone Joint Surg Br

    (2005)
  • Cited by (0)

    Supplementary material available at www.arthroplastyjournal.org.

    Benefits or support were received from the HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation. National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowship and PhD Schemes.

    §

    Joint first author.

    View full text