Malignant disease as a risk factor for surgical site infection.

Abstract Postoperative infections are a great constituent of surgical complications. The most common one is surgical site infection (SSI), as well as vaginal and/or urinary tract infections, infections affecting distant organs and systems and systemic circulation leading to sepsis and septic shock. Our aim was to emphasize the effect of malignant disease on postoperative infection and to establish malignant disease as a risk factor for SSI, per se. We designed a retrospective study in which 538 women who underwent surgery in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinical Center of Serbia during a six-month period in 2009 were analyzed. We collected relevant data regarding SSI incidence (CDC definitions), malignant disease (primary site, type and stage) and other potential risk factors for SSI. We used descriptive statistics, chi-square and Student's t test for comparison of variables with statistical significance atp