XXXX in an abdominal surgical ward at Kosovo Teaching Hospital.

@entity1 @entity281
BACKGROUND: Abdominal surgical site infections (SSI) cause substantial morbidity and mortality for @entity1 undergoing operative procedures. We determined the incidence of and risk factors for SSI after abdominal surgery in the Department of Abdominal Surgery at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo (UCCK). METHODOLOGY: Prospective surveillance of @entity1 undergoing abdominal surgery was performed between December 2005 and June 2006. CDC definitions were followed to detect SSI and study forms were based on Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance (HELICS) protocol. RESULTS: A total of 253 surgical interventions in 225 @entity1 were evaluated. The median age of @entity1 was 42 years and 55.1% of them were male. The overall incidence rate of SSI was 12%. Follow-up was achieved for 84.1% of the procedures. For @entity1 with an SSI, the median duration of hospitalization was 9 days compared with 4 days for those without an SSI (p2, use of antibiotic prophylaxis and NNIS class of >2 were all significant at p < .001. The SSI rates for the NNIS System risk classes 0, 1 and 2-3 were 4.2%, 46.7% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: SSI caused considerable morbidity among surgical @entity1 in UCCK. Appropriate active surveillance and @entity281 control measures should be introduced during preoperative, intra-operative, and postoperative care to reduce @entity281 rates.
