Table 3.

Smoking and Wound Infection Risk.

	Year	Non-Smokers (%infected / n)	Smokers (%infected / n)	P
Kurz et al. [6]	1996	7% / 148	22% / 76	<0.001
Greif et al. [29]	2000	8% / 283	8% / 122	NS
Fleishmann et al. [72]	2005	16% / 335	17% / 81	NS
Belda et al. [70]	2005	22% / 187	30% / 46	NS

A study published in 1996 observed that infection risk was tripled in smokers. In an additional study from 1993, bacterial infection risk was doubled from 15 ± 3% to 33 ± 8%, but these values include pneumonia as well as surgical wound infections [113]. In contrast, three subsequent studies observed no relationship between smoking and infection risk. The probable explanation is that after 2000, smoking was no longer allowed in hospitals. Smoking thus no longer appears to be an important risk factor for development of surgical wound infection.