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. 2021 Oct 13;10:146. doi: 10.1186/s13756-021-01016-4

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing craniotomy in the two study periods

Pre-care bundle period
(n = 595)
Care bundle period
(n = 422)
p value
Baseline characteristics
Male, n (%) 274 (54.6) 228 (45.4) 0.013
Median age, years (IQR) 54 (21) 55 (22) 0.143
Urgent surgery, n (%) 79 (13.3) 54 (12.8) 0.851
Reason for surgery
 Intrinsic tumour, n (%) 234 (39.3) 181 (42.9) 0.271
 Extrinsic tumour, n (%) 123 (20.7) 105 (24.9) 0.127
 Epilepsy, n (%) 23 (3.9) 8 (1.9) 0.095
 Vascular, n (%) 152 (25.5) 100 (23.7) 0.508
 Trauma, n (%) 17 (2.9) 20 (4.7) 0.127
 Others, n (%) 46 (7.7) 8 (1.9) < 0.001
Surgical site
 Supratentorial, n (%) 449 (75.5) 363 (86) < 0.001
 Infratentorial, n (%) 62 (10.4) 29 (6.9) 0.05
 Retromastoid, n (%) 84 (14.1) 30 (7.1) < 0.001
Duration of surgery: minutes, median (IQR) 243 (130) 260 (136.5) 0.08
CHARLSON score, median (IQR) 3 (2) 3 (2) 0.8
ASA > 2 223 (37.5) 127 (30.1) 0.08
Inappropriate antibiotic prophylaxis, n (%) 83 (13.9) 106 (25.1) < 0.001
CSF leak, n (%) 11 (1.8) 3 (0.7) 0.173
ICP sensor, n (%) 36 (6.1) 23 (5.4) 0.786
Use of steroids/chemotherapy, n (%) 439 (73.8) 377 (89.3)  < 0.001
Mean hospital 1 year stay, median (IQR) 10 (19) 9.5 (16.2) 0.338
Outcomes
Primary outcome
 SSI-CRAN1, n (%) 91 (15.3) 15 (3.5) < 0.001
 Occurrence of SSI-CRAN, days (IQR2) 21 (14–43) 19 (17.5–39.5) 0.06
 Detection
  During hospital admission, n (%) 31 (34.1) 5 (33.3) 1
  Post-discharge surveillance, n (%) 11 (12.1) 0 0.357
  Readmission, n (%) 49 (53.8) 10 (66.7) 0.411
 SSI-CRAN classification
  Superficial incisional, n (%) 8 (8.8) 2 (13.3) 0.777
  Deep incisional, n (%) 16 (17.6) 3 (20) 0.730
  Organ-space, n (%) 67 (73.6) 10 (66.7) 0.548
Secondary SSI-CRAN Outcomes (n = 91) (n = 15)
 1-year mortality, n (%) 2 (2.2) 0 (0) 1
 Re-intervention, n (%) 72 (79.1) 13 (86.7) 0.730
  Number of re-interventions, median (IQR) 1.4 (1.1) 1.4 (0.9) 0.891
 Implant for cranial reconstruction 27 (29.7) 3 (20) 0.548
 Days of antibiotic therapy, median (IQR) 37.8 (29.9) 35 (22.2) 0.764
 Cumulative days of antibiotic therapy, days 3438 525 < 0.001
MDR3 microorganism infection, n (%) 16 (17.6) 3 (20) 0.730

ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists, CSF cerebrospinal fluid, ICP intracranial pressure, IQR interquartile range, MDR multidrug-resistant, SSI-CRAN surgical site infection after craniotomy