Researchers studied 1,481 patients who underwent colon cancer surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, from 2004 through 2014. Of the patients, 90 developed SSIs.
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SSI rates were significantly higher among the following:
• People who smoked (7.4 percent versus 4.8 percent among non-smokers)
• People who abused alcohol (10.6 percent versus 5.7 percent among non-alcoholics)
• People with type 2 diabetics (8.8 percent versus 5.5 percent among people without type 2 diabetes)
• Obese patients (11.7 percent versus 4 percent among non-obese people)
• Patients with an operation duration longer than 140 minutes (7.5 percent versus 5 percent among people with shorter operation times)
• Patients who underwent nonlaparoscopic approaches (6.7 percent versus 4.1 percent among laparoscopic approach patients)
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