Surgical Site Infection in Spine Surgery: Who Is at Risk?

Study Design: Retrospective literature review of spine surgical site infection (SSI).

Objective: To perform a review of SSI risk factors and more specifically, categorize them into patient and surgical factors.

Methods: A review of published literature on SSI risk factors in adult spine surgery was performed. We included studies that reported risk factors for SSI in adult spinal surgery. Excluded are pediatric patient populations, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. Overall, we identified 72 cohort studies, 1 controlled-cohort study, 1 matched-cohort study, 1 matched-paired cohort study, 12 case-controlled studies (CCS), 6 case series, and 1 cross-sectional study.

Results: Patient-associated risk factors-diabetes mellitus, obesity (body mass index >35 kg/m2 ), subcutaneous fat thickness, multiple medical comorbidities, current smoker, and malnutrition were associated with SSI. Surgical associated factors-preoperative radiation/postoperative blood transfusion, combined anterior/posterior approach, surgical invasiveness, or levels of instrumentation were associated with increased SSI. There is mixed evidence of age, duration of surgery, surgical team, intraoperative blood loss, dural tear, and urinary tract infection/urinary catheter in association with SSI.

Conclusion: SSIs are associated with many risk factors that can be patient or surgically related. Our review was able to identify important modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors that can be essential in surgical planning and discussion with patients.