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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Apr 6.
Published in final edited form as: J Am Coll Surg. 2008 Jun 26;207(3):326–335. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2008.04.021

Table 3.

Univariate Comparisons of Risk Factors in Patients With and Without Breast Incisional SSI

Characteristic No. (%) patients with breast SSI (n = 57) No. (%) uninfected patients (n = 268) Odds ratio (95% CI) p

Body mass index
 25 or less 15 (26) 89 (33)
 25–30 10 (18) 88 (33) 0.7 (0.3,1.6) .365
 30–35 15 (26) 45 (17) 2.0 (0.9,4.4) .095
 > 35 17 (30) 46 (17) 2.2 (1.0,4.8) .049

Obesity (BMI > 30) 32 (56) 91 (34) 2.5 (1.4,4.5) .002

Diabetes 12 (21) 37 (14) 1.7 (0.8,3.4) .165

Any glucose > 200 mg/dLa 10 (20) 22 (12) 1.9 (0.8,4.4) .116

Diabetes or any glucose > 200 mg/dLa 14 (25) 40 (15) 1.9 (0.9,3.7) .076

Current smoking or quit within past 6 months 12 (21) 38 (14) 1.6 (0.8,3.3) .192

ASA class 3 or 4 21 (37) 54 (20) 2.3 (1.2,4.2) .007

Skin disorders at time of surgery 10 (18) 29 (11) 1.8 (0.8,3.8) .156

Prior chest irradiation 12 (21) 39 (15) 1.6 (0.8,3.2) .220

Previous chemotherapy (any) 16 (28) 47 (18) 1.8 (1.0,3.5) .068

Recent chemotherapy (within 6 months before surgery) 9 (16) 29 (11) 1.5 (0.7,3.5) .289

Tamoxifen therapy at time of surgery 9 (16) 25 (9) 1.8 (0.8,4.1) .148

Breast biopsy within 1 year
 None 13 (23) 91 (34)
 Needle only 23 (40) 93 (35) 1.7 (0.8,3.6) .145
 Any open biopsy or surgery 21 (37) 84 (31) 1.8 (0.8,3.7) .145

Mastectomy
 No mastectomy 8 (14) 90 (34)
 0–2 lymph nodes removed 13 (23) 45 (17) 3.3 (1.3,8.4) .015
 ≥3 lymph nodes removed 36 (63) 133 (50) 3.0 (1.4,6.9) .007

Axillary dissectionb 34 (60) 134 (50) 1.5 (0.8,2.6) .186

Current breast cancer 45 (79) 174 (65) 2.0 (1.0,4.0) .040

Current or past breast cancer 54 (95) 204 (76) 5.6 (1.7,18.7) .002

Current diagnosis
 None/history of malignancy 12 (21) 94 (35)
 Carcinoma in situ only 9 (16) 21 (8) 3.4 (1.3,9.0) .016
 Invasive carcinoma 36 (63) 153 (57) 1.8 (0.9,3.7) .088

Breast implant
 No implant 36 (63) 225 (84)
 Permanent implant 6 (11) 13 (5) 2.9 (1.0,8.1) .044
 Tissue expander 15 (26) 30 (11) 3.1 (1.5,6.4) .002

Local infiltration of anesthetic agent 7 (12) 65 (24) 0.4 (0.2,1.0) .048

Reduction surgery only 3 (5) 68 (25) 0.2 (0.0,0.5) .001

Sub-optimal prophylactic antibiotic dose 29 (51) 78 (29) 2.5 (1.4,4.5) .001

Sub-optimal timing of prophylactic antibiotic (none, or > 60 minutes before or after incision) 10 (18) 50 (19) 0.9 (0.4, 2.0) .844

Any sub-optimal timing of prophylactic antibiotic administration (sub-optimal timing of 1st dose as above, or for surgeries with duration > 6 hrs, no 2nd dose or 2nd dose > 6 hrs after incision) 15 (26) 65 (24) 1.1 (0.6, 2.1) .743

Estimated blood loss during operation (mL)c
 ≤50 17 (29.8) 77 (28.7)
 51 – 200 19 (33.3) 104 (38.8) 0.8 (0.4, 1.7) .605
 201 – 499 17 (29.8) 66 (24.6) 1.2 (0.6, 2.5) .686
 ≥500 4 (7.0) 21 (7.8) 0.9 (0.3, 2.8) .808

Transfusion 9 (16) 21 (8) 2.2 (1.0,5.1) .060
a

Serum glucose from blood collected during preoperative clinic visit or in the hospital before surgery, or within 5 days after surgery.

b

Axillary dissection as described in operative note

c

Estimated blood loss was missing for 46 patients (17.2%), and was assumed to be ≤ 50 mL for analysis. The results did not change when these patients were excluded from analysis.