While obesity is a well-known surgical site infection risk factor in the adult population, a study published in Surgical Infections now shows obesity is also a risk factor for SSI in children undergoing surgery.
The study used data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric database. From that database, researchers reviewed 1,380 patients between 2 and 18 years old who underwent major surgeries in 2012 and 2013 who developed infections. The patients were classified as underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese based on the CDC's pediatric growth charts.
They found 40 percent of the patients who developed SSIs were overweight or obese.
"Research on this topic among children and adolescents is scarce," said Catherine Hunter, MD, pediatric surgeon at Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. "The information from the first-of-its-kind study can now be used in assessing and counseling preoperative pediatric surgical patients and their families."
There are several theories as to why overweight and obese children are at higher risk of infection, according to Dr. Hunter. "These include impaired wound healing due to the lower oxygen tension found in the excess fat issue surrounding the wound, as well as impaired lymphocyte responsiveness," she said. "However, more studies need to look at this further.