OBJECTIVE: To analyze the occurrence of surgical site infection (SSI) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery in the period between July 2005, and July 2010. METHODS: A quantitative, historical cohort study that evaluated 384 patients in a public teaching hospital. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software was used for data analysis and for descriptive analysis, measures of association in contigency tables and logistic regression were used. RESULTS: It was found that 36 (9.4%) patients developed a SSI and that mortality occurred in 14 (38.9%). Staphylococcus aureus was the prevalent microorganism (12, 27.3%) In the multivariate analysis, the risk factors identified as predictors of SSI were male gender, intubation for more than 24 hours, and reintubation. CONCLUSION: The risk factors predictive of the occurence of SSI (p<0.05) were: male gender, reintubation, and intubation for more than 24 hours.
Surgical wound infection; Cardiac surgical procedures; Risk factors
