The Incidence of and Risk Factors for 30-Day Surgical Site Infections Following Primary and Revision Total Joint Arthroplasty

The authors assessed the incidence of and risk factors associated with 30-day surgical site infections (SSIs) following primary (p) and revision (r) THA and TKA. In total, 23,128 primary and 2170 revision TJAs were identified between 2005 and 2010 in the ACS NSQIP database. The 30-day SSI rates, overall and deep, were 1.1 and 0.1% for pTKA, 1.18 and 0.4% for pTHA, 1.68 and 0.7% for rTKA, and 2.9 and 1.7% for rTHA. After primary TJA, independent risk factors were BMI > 40, hypertension, prolonged operative time, electrolyte disturbance and previous infection, and after revision TJA, dyspnea and bleeding disorder were risk factors. This study should help provide benchmark data for SSI following TJA.