Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical site infections: a multi-center study evaluating incidence, pathogen distribution, and antimicrobial resistance patterns.
Şiran Keske, Elif Sargın Altunok, Emel Azak, Ezgi Gülten, Tuğba Arslan Gülen, Çiğdem Ataman Hatipoğlu, Ali Asan, Derya Korkmaz, Bahar Kaçmaz, Yeşim Kızmaz, Ayşe Batırel, Fethiye Akgül, Derya Yapar, Zehra Çağla Karakoç, Ayşe Serra Özel, Tuğba Yanık Yalçın, Deniz Özer, Özge Eren Korkmaz, Ahmet Şahin, Muhammed Fatih Karaşın, Tuba Turunç, Mehtap Aydın, Neşe Demirtürk, Alpay Azap, Önder Ergönül
{"title":"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical site infections: a multi-center study evaluating incidence, pathogen distribution, and antimicrobial resistance patterns.","authors":"Şiran Keske, Elif Sargın Altunok, Emel Azak, Ezgi Gülten, Tuğba Arslan Gülen, Çiğdem Ataman Hatipoğlu, Ali Asan, Derya Korkmaz, Bahar Kaçmaz, Yeşim Kızmaz, Ayşe Batırel, Fethiye Akgül, Derya Yapar, Zehra Çağla Karakoç, Ayşe Serra Özel, Tuğba Yanık Yalçın, Deniz Özer, Özge Eren Korkmaz, Ahmet Şahin, Muhammed Fatih Karaşın, Tuba Turunç, Mehtap Aydın, Neşe Demirtürk, Alpay Azap, Önder Ergönül","doi":"10.1186/s13756-025-01542-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most significant concerns in healthcare settings, presenting challenges in patient management and healthcare outcomes. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the landscape of infectious disease epidemiology, impacting the distribution and resistance characteristics of pathogens responsible for SSIs. Understanding these dynamics is essential for improving infection prevention and treatment strategies.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective multi-center study included 17 hospitals in Turkey, analyzing SSI cases from January 2019 to January 2023. The study was divided into three phases: pre-pandemic (January 2019 - March 2020), early pandemic (March 2020 - January 2022), and late pandemic (January 2022 - January 2023). We assessed demographic and clinical characteristics, pathogen distributions, and resistance rates, focusing on multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 2,058 patients with SSIs were included. The SSI rate increased from 0.79% in 2019 to 0.87% in 2020, then decreased to 0.46% in 2021 and 0.50% in 2022. The most prevalent pathogens were E. coli (21.9%) and K. pneumoniae (14.6%). Resistance to meropenem in K. pneumoniae rose from 23% pre-pandemic to 33% post-pandemic, while ceftazidime-avibactam resistance surged from 6 to 43%. P. aeruginosa showed increased quinolone resistance from 18 to 27%, with colistin resistance rising to 13% in the late pandemic phase.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study highlights the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SSIs in Turkey, revealing concerning trends in antibiotic resistance among key pathogens. Ongoing surveillance and enhanced infection control measures are essential to address these challenges and improve patient outcomes in the post-pandemic era.</p>","PeriodicalId":7950,"journal":{"name":"Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control","volume":"14 1","pages":"77"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12217381/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-025-01542-5","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most significant concerns in healthcare settings, presenting challenges in patient management and healthcare outcomes. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the landscape of infectious disease epidemiology, impacting the distribution and resistance characteristics of pathogens responsible for SSIs. Understanding these dynamics is essential for improving infection prevention and treatment strategies.
Methods: This retrospective multi-center study included 17 hospitals in Turkey, analyzing SSI cases from January 2019 to January 2023. The study was divided into three phases: pre-pandemic (January 2019 - March 2020), early pandemic (March 2020 - January 2022), and late pandemic (January 2022 - January 2023). We assessed demographic and clinical characteristics, pathogen distributions, and resistance rates, focusing on multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens.
Results: A total of 2,058 patients with SSIs were included. The SSI rate increased from 0.79% in 2019 to 0.87% in 2020, then decreased to 0.46% in 2021 and 0.50% in 2022. The most prevalent pathogens were E. coli (21.9%) and K. pneumoniae (14.6%). Resistance to meropenem in K. pneumoniae rose from 23% pre-pandemic to 33% post-pandemic, while ceftazidime-avibactam resistance surged from 6 to 43%. P. aeruginosa showed increased quinolone resistance from 18 to 27%, with colistin resistance rising to 13% in the late pandemic phase.
Conclusions: This study highlights the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SSIs in Turkey, revealing concerning trends in antibiotic resistance among key pathogens. Ongoing surveillance and enhanced infection control measures are essential to address these challenges and improve patient outcomes in the post-pandemic era.
期刊介绍：
Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control is a global forum for all those working on the prevention, diagnostic and treatment of health-care associated infections and antimicrobial resistance development in all health-care settings. The journal covers a broad spectrum of preeminent practices and best available data to the top interventional and translational research, and innovative developments in the field of infection control.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
