Skip to main content
Epidemiology and Infection logoLink to Epidemiology and Infection
. 1994 Oct;113(2):283–295. doi: 10.1017/s0950268800051712

Estimated costs of postoperative wound infections. A case-control study of marginal hospital and social security costs.

K B Poulsen 1, A Bremmelgaard 1, A I Sørensen 1, D Raahave 1, J V Petersen 1
PMCID: PMC2271539  PMID: 7925666

Abstract

A cohort of 4515 surgical patients in ten selected intervention groups was followed. Three hundred and seventeen developed postoperative wound infections, and 291 of these cases were matched 1:1 to controls by operation, sex and age. In comparison to the controls the cases stayed longer in hospital after the intervention and had more contact after discharge with the social security system. Using data from a national sentinel reference database of the incidence of postoperative wound infections, and using national activity data, we established an empirical cost model based on the estimated marginal costs of hospital resources and social sick pay. It showed that the hospital resources spent on the ten groups, which represent half of the postoperative wound infections in Denmark, amounted to approximately 0.5% of the annual national hospital budget. This stratified model creates a better basis for selecting groups of operations which need priority in terms of preventive measures.

Full text

PDF
294

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Ayliffe G. A. Nosocomial infection--the irreducible minimum. Infect Control. 1986 Feb;7(2 Suppl):92–95. doi: 10.1017/s0195941700065541. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Boel J., Sinding A. Dataregistrering af postoperative särinfektioner på en ortopaedkirurgisk afdeling. Nord Med. 1988;103(4):135–137. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Boyce J. M., Potter-Bynoe G., Dziobek L. Hospital reimbursement patterns among patients with surgical wound infections following open heart surgery. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1990 Feb;11(2):89–93. doi: 10.1086/646127. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bremmelgaard A., Raahave D., Beier-Holgersen R., Pedersen J. V., Andersen S., Sørensen A. I. Computer-aided surveillance of surgical infections and identification of risk factors. J Hosp Infect. 1989 Jan;13(1):1–18. doi: 10.1016/0195-6701(89)90090-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bremmelgaard A., Sørensen A. M., Brems-Dalgaard E., Raahave D., Pedersen J. V. Fire års erfaringer med edb-registrering af postoperative sårinfektioner og identifikation af risikofaktorer. Ugeskr Laeger. 1991 May 13;153(20):1416–1419. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cruse P. J., Foord R. The epidemiology of wound infection. A 10-year prospective study of 62,939 wounds. Surg Clin North Am. 1980 Feb;60(1):27–40. doi: 10.1016/s0039-6109(16)42031-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fabry J., Meynet R., Joron M. T., Sepetjan M., Lambert D. C., Guillet R. Cost of nosocomial infections: analysis of 512 digestive surgery patients. World J Surg. 1982 May;6(3):362–365. doi: 10.1007/BF01653558. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Green J. W., Wenzel R. P. Postoperative wound infection: a controlled study of the increased duration of hospital stay and direct cost of hospitalization. Ann Surg. 1977 Mar;185(3):264–268. doi: 10.1097/00000658-197703000-00002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Greiff J. Omkostningerne ved en inficeret crusfraktur. Ugeskr Laeger. 1980 Jul 7;142(28):1828–1828. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Haley R. W., Schaberg D. R., Von Allmen S. D., McGowan J. E., Jr Estimating the extra charges and prolongation of hospitalization due to nosocomial infections: a comparison of methods. J Infect Dis. 1980 Feb;141(2):248–257. doi: 10.1093/infdis/141.2.248. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Jensen L. P., Noer H. H., Waadegaard M., Lund F. Kontinuerlig overvågning af sårinfektioner og andre postoperative komplikationer med anvendelse af MIKRO-ORT. Ugeskr Laeger. 1990 Jul 16;152(29):2106–2110. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kjellgren K., Norberg B., Fryklund B., Burman L. G. Registrering av kirurgiska infektioner kan "spara" mångmiljonbelopp i vården. Lakartidningen. 1985 Dec 11;82(50):4428, 4430-1. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Losos J., Trotman M. Estimated economic burden of nosocomial infection. Can J Public Health. 1984 May-Jun;75(3):248–250. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Nelson R. M., Dries D. J. The economic implications of infection in cardiac surgery. Ann Thorac Surg. 1986 Sep;42(3):240–246. doi: 10.1016/s0003-4975(10)62726-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Olson M. M., Lee J. T., Jr Continuous, 10-year wound infection surveillance. Results, advantages, and unanswered questions. Arch Surg. 1990 Jun;125(6):794–803. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.1990.01410180120020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Penin G. B., Ehrenkranz N. J. Priorities for surveillance and cost-effective control of postoperative infection. Arch Surg. 1988 Nov;123(11):1305–1308. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.1988.01400350019001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Poulsen K. B., Jepsen O. B. Recording of postoperative wound infections in Denmark. Implementation, surgeons attitude, status and recommendations. Dan Med Bull. 1992 Oct;39(5):467–470. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Schäfer U. Kostenanalyse bei nosokomialen Infektionen. Eine einjährige Studie in der Chirurgischen Abteilung des Kreiskrankenhauses Riesa. Zentralbl Chir. 1987;112(24):1552–1560. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Stürup J., Sørensen T. S., Tørholm C., Jensen J. S. Ressourceforbruget forbundet med inficerede hoftefrakturoperationer. Ugeskr Laeger. 1988 May 9;150(19):1147–1148. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sørensen A. M., Brems-Dalgaard E., Bremmelgard A., Raahave D., Pedersen J. V. Vanskeligheder ved kontinuerlig edb-registrering af postoperative sårinfektioner. Ugeskr Laeger. 1991 May 13;153(20):1420–1422. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Thorup J., Jepsen O. B., Birch C., Kvist E. Infektioner i kirurgisk og gynaekologisk-obstetrisk afdeling. En tre måneders undersøgelse. Ugeskr Laeger. 1981 Jul 13;143(29):1815–1819. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wakefield D. S., Pfaller M., Ludke R. L., Wenzel R. P. Methods for estimating days of hospitalization due to nosocomial infections. Med Care. 1992 Apr;30(4):373–376. doi: 10.1097/00005650-199204000-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Epidemiology and Infection are provided here courtesy of Cambridge University Press

RESOURCES