Incidence of surgical site infection among appendectomy, herniorrhaphy and caesarean section patients in Qatar.

Background: Surgical site infection is a frequently reported adverse outcome of surgical procedures worldwide, impacting the quality-of-care for patients.

Aim: To describe the incidence of surgical site infection among appendectomy, herniorrhaphy and caesarean section patients in Qatar and compare the rates with external benchmarks.

Methods: We conducted this retrospective observational study among all 5127 appendectomy, herniorrhaphy and caesarean section patients admitted at The Cuban Hospital, Qatar, from 2013 to 2023. We analysed the data using SPSS version 22 and MedCalc, we determined the relative risk ratios, 95% CI and P-values, and used Student's t-test for comparison. A 2-sided α < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Of the 5127 surgeries, 2463 were appendectomies, 751 were herniorrhaphies and 1913 were caesarean sections. Surgical site infections were 2.19% for appendectomy, 2.53% for herniorrhaphy and 2.56% for caesarean section. Surgical site infection decreased over the study period for appendectomy and herniorrhaphy, while it varied with no definite trend for caesarean section. Infection was higher for herniorrhaphy and appendectomy than reported by the National Healthcare Safety Network and the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium.

Conclusion: The higher incidence of surgical site infection in Qatar than the benchmark countries provides evidence for stricter hospital infection prevention and control programmes to improve patient safety in the country.