Temporal trends and epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus surgical site infection in the Swiss surveillance network: a cohort study

• Published in: The Journal of hospital infection 2018-02, Vol.98 (2), p.118-126
• Main Authors: Abbas, M., Aghayev, E., Troillet, N., Eisenring, M.-C., Kuster, S.P., Widmer, A.F., Harbarth, S., Balmelli, Carlo, Eisenring, Marie-Christine, Harbarth, Stephan, Kuster, Stefan P., Marschall, Jonas, Spicher, Virginie Masserey, Pittet, Didier, Ruef, Christian, Sax, Hugo, Schlegel, Matthias, Schweiger, Alexander, Troillet, Nicolas, Widmer, Andreas F., Zanetti, Giorgio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cohort study; Risk factors; Staphylococcus aureus; Surgical site infection; Surveillance of healthcare-associated infection
• ISSN: 0195-6701; 1532-2939
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.09.025

Staphylococcus aureus is the leading pathogen in surgical site infections (SSI). To explore trends and risk factors associated with S. aureus SSI. Risk factors for monomicrobial S. aureus SSI were identified from the Swiss multi-centre SSI surveillance system using multi-variate logistic regression. Both in-hospital and postdischarge SSI were identified using standardized definitions. Over a six-year period, data were collected on 229,765 surgical patients, of whom 499 (0.22%) developed monomicrobial S. aureus SSI; 459 (92.0%) and 40 (8.0%) were due to meticillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and meticillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), respectively. There was a significant decrease in the rate of MSSA SSI (P = 0.007), but not in the rate of MRSA SSI (P = 0.70). Independent protective factors for S. aureus SSI were older age [≥75 years vs