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Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Nov;48(10):998-1005.
doi: 10.1177/17531934231193336. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Surgical site infection following surgery for hand trauma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Surgical site infection following surgery for hand trauma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Justin C Wormald et al. J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Surgical site infection is the most common healthcare-associated infection. Surgical site infection after surgery for hand trauma is associated with increased antibiotic prescribing, re-operation, hospital readmission and delayed rehabilitation, and in severe cases may lead to amputation. As the risk of surgical site infection after surgery for hand trauma remains unclear, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all primary studies of hand trauma surgery, including randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies and case series. A total of 8836 abstracts were screened, and 201 full studies with 315,618 patients included. The meta-analysis showed a 10% risk of surgical site infection in randomized control trials, with an overall risk of 5% when all studies were included. These summary statistics can be used clinically for informed consent and shared decision making, and for power calculations for future clinical trials of antimicrobial interventions in hand trauma.

Keywords: Hand surgery; infection; systematic review; trauma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow chart.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Risk of bias of included studies.

References

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