Background: Surgical site infections (SSI) are the most common nosocomial infection and frequently cause morbidity and mortality among
inpatients of hospitals. The incidence varies from hospital to hospital. Several factors affect the development of SSI. Objectives: To study the
incidence of Surgical Site Infections and associated risk factors in the surgical wards of a tertiary care hospital in Lucknow. Material and
Methods: It was a hospital based study done on 200 patients who underwent various surgeries in the General Surgery department of Career
Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow. Duration of study was 3 months ie. Oct-December 2019. Apredesigned and pretested proforma was used
to collect the data. Surgical sites were examined and graded. Culture and sensitivity testing was done on infected wounds. Data was analysed using
SPSS 17 software. Results:Among the 200 patients 40 developed surgical site infections giving a cumulative incidence of 20%. Out of 40 SSIs 20
were grade 3 infections and responded to change in antibiotic guided by antibiogram. 20 patients developed grade 4 infection and some of them had
constitutional symptoms like fever. SSIs were found more commonly among the aged, males, underweight and overweight, anaemics, diabetics,
hypertensives, patients with longer pre-operative waiting time, with multiple blood transfusions and without antibiotic prophylaxis. Age, Sex,
BMI, Diabetes mellitus, Blood transfusion and pre-operative waiting had univariate statistical signicance. Conclusion:The incidence of SSI is
high. Gender, extremes of BMI, diabetes mellitus and blood transfusion are the important risk factors for it.
Emergence of coryneform bacteria as pathogens in nosocomial surgical site infections in a tertiary care hospital of North India