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Background: We aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of surgical site infection (SSI) after cesarean delivery (CD) in a rural area in China.

Methods: We identified 155 patients with incisional and organ/space SSIs by International Classification of Disease codes and matched them with 465 patients (controls) in a time-matched retrospective quality assurance analysis. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the risk factors for SSI: the work-years of providers, the number of antenatal care (ANC) visits, CD after labor, positive discharge culture, postoperative C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and fever.

Results: and discussion: During the study, 155 women with SSI were identified among the 8640 patients who delivered by CD. The incidence of SSIs was 179 per 10 000patients (95%CI: 151-207 per 10 000 patients). The total duration of hospitalization in patients with SSI was 14.49 ± 8.68 days compared with 7.96 ± 2.35 days in patients with no SSI (P < 0.01). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the work-years of providers (odds ratio [OR] = 3.729, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.463-9.501, p = 0.006), irregular ANC visits (OR = 3.245, 95% CI: 1.264-8.329, p = 0.028), CD after labor (OR = 2.545, 95% CI: 0.935-6.926, p = 0.020), postoperative CRP level (OR = 2.545, 95% CI: 0.935-6.926, p = 0.016) and a positive discharge culture (OR = 2.954, 95% CI: 0.305-28.643, p = 0.019) were positively associated with SSI. However, the rates of maternal request (OR = 0.186, 95% CI: 0.065-0.535, p = 0.002) and postoperative fever (OR = 0.208, 95% CI: 0.087-0.494, p = 0.001) were negatively related to SSI.

Conclusions: Special attentions should be paid to CD patients who had irregular ANC visits, attempted labor, a positive discharge culture, higher CRP levels and fever after surgery, who had a greater risk of SSI.