The Effect of Serum Albumin and Anemia in Surgical Site Infection in Open Fractures of Tibia

Surgical wound infection is the most serious complication after surgical treatment and the second most common etiology in nosocomial infection. Nutritional status of the patients is one of the risk factors for surgical site infection (SSI). This study aims at investigating the relationship between the serum albumin level and pre-operative anemia with surgical site infection in patients with open tibial fracture. In a prospective study 56 patients with open tibia fractures were studied in a teaching hospital in Mashhad-Iran. At the time of admission serum albumin level hemoglobin and anthropometric values were measured. Surgical site infection during a one-year follow-up was recorded. The results were analyzed using statistical tests. Nineteen patients (%33.9) were complicated by infection. The odd ration was 1.83 (p=.032) for anemia 2.35 (p=. 018) for hypoalbuminemia and 3.53 (p=.002) for type of open fracture. This study showed that SSI is a problem of great significance in orthopaedic tibia open fracture surgeries. It also showed that hypoalbuminemia and anemia before surgery resulted in a higher SSI occurrence in the patients.