Effect of prophylactic antibiotic administration during the perioperative period on surgical site infection after neurosurgical operation

Objective To investigate the effect of perioperative prophylactic administration of antibiotics on post-neurosurgical infection incidence. Methods It was a retrospective design by using 679 cases of patients who underwent clean neurosurgical operations at Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University during Sep 1st to Sep 23 rd in 2011 and the same period in 2010. The incidence of Surgical Site Infection (SSI) were calculated and compared between the two periods. Univariate analysis and logistic regression analysis were applied to reveal SSI-related risk factors. Results The SSI incidence was significantly higher during Sep 1st to Sep 23 rd in 2011 than the same period in 2010 (16.5% to 5.0%, P<0.01). And the proportion of prophylactic antibiotic administration was significantly lower during the period in 2011 than in 2010 (36.6% to 80.7%, P<0.01). Prophylactic administration of antibiotics was an independent factor that significantly reduced the SSI incidence (odds ratio, 0.30; P<0.001). Prophylactic administration of antibiotics significantly reduced the SSI incidence by 65.0% (P<0.01) and the cut infection incidence by 81% (P<0.01). In terms of health economics, prophylactic administration of antibiotics shortened median hospital stays by 2 days and decreased median hospitalization cost by 7%. Conclusions Perioperative prophylactic administration of antibiotics can reduce post-neurosurgical SSI incidence significantly and independently, and then shorten median hospital stays and decrease median hospitalization cost. Key words: Perioperative period; Neurosurgical operation; Antibiotic prophylaxis; Surgical site infection