Incidence of bacterial infections in the blood of pediatric surgical patients
OA Version
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Abstract
Objective: The bacterial bloodstream infections in the surgical patients after their procedures at Boston Children’s Hospital and potential risk factors have never been evaluated. The goal of this study is to determine potential risk factors and ascertain whether the current practices of the Department of Anesthesiology are effective in preventing the transmission of infection.
Methods: We analyzed all Boston Children’s Hospital surgical patients from 2012 who had blood cultures drawn within 48 hours of being in the operating room. From this, we attempted to identify risk factors for the infections through multivariate logistic regression. We compared the infection rate at Boston Children’s Hospital to a national benchmark (10%) using a test of binomial proportions to determine if current practices are effective.
Results: 35,451 patients underwent surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2012. Out of 494 patients who had blood cultures drawn within 48 hours of surgery, 21 subsequently developed bloodstream infections. Age, gender, race, admission location, length of stay, and surgical procedure type were not predictive factors (p>0.05). American Society of Anesthesiology score prior to surgery may be a risk factor (p=0.041). The infection rate at Boston Children’s Hospital was significantly less that the national benchmark (p=0.00). Conclusion: Since the infection rate at Boston Children’s Hospital is significantly less than the national benchmark, no changes in practice by the Department of Anesthesiology are currently necessary. However, additional studies are required to verify this finding.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University