The researchers identified 6,789 patients who underwent knee and hip arthroplasty. They defined surgical site infection as a superficial infection that occurred within 30 days or a deep infection that occurred within one year. The researchers used their findings to create a scoring system for surgical site infection risk, which ranged from zero points to 35 points.
Here are their scores for risk of infection based on procedure:
1. Primary hip arthroplasty: 0 points
2. Primary knee arthroplasty: 1 point
3. Revision hip arthroplasty; revision knee arthroplasty: 3 points
Here are their scores for risk of infection based on comorbidities:
1. Non-insulin dependent diabetes: 1 point
2. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: 1 point
3. Insulin-dependent diabetes: 1.5 points
4. Inflammatory arthropathy: 1.5 points
5. Tobacco use: 1.5 points
6. Lower-extremity osteomyelitis or pyogenic arthritis: 2 points
7. Pelvis, thigh or leg traumatic fracture: 2 points
8. Lower-extremity pathologic fracture: 2.5 points
9. Morbid obesity: 2.5 points
10. Primary bone cancer: 4 points
11. Reaction to prosthesis in the last 3 years: 4 points
12. History of staphylococcal septicemia: 4.5 points
The researchers concluded that “we believe that infection risk can be objectively determined in a preoperative setting with the proposed SSI risk score.”
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