DOHA: An average of 21 percent people develops some form of wound infection after a cardiac surgery in Qatar, according to a recent study.
Although there is high rate of wound infection among such people, the majority are superficial and in the leg, according to the findings of the ‘Risk Factors For Wound Infection Following Cardiac Surgery In Qatar,’ was presented at the recently held Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference 2014.
The research has assessed the risk factors involved in the development of wound infections following cardiac surgery in Qatar. With Qatar is one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world (20 percent of the general population), where many patients having poor control, 68 percent of the isolated persons who undergo Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery has diabetes.
The study analysed all patients who underwent a cardiac surgery between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2013 at the Heart Hospital. They were followed and all wound infections were noted.
Patients’ pre-operative haemoglobin, glycated haemoglobin —(HbA1C), body mass index — (BMI) , and ethnicity were also noted. By measuring glycated haemoglobin, clinicians are able to get an overall picture of what the average blood sugar levels have been over a period of weeks or months in a person.
A total of 252 patients including 24 females and 228 males underwent cardiac surgery within the study period. They were between the age of 15 years and 74 years.
Among them 54 (21 percent) of patients have developed some form of wound infection after the cardiac surgery.
The research has also found a difference in haemoglobin levels in patients who developed wound infections compared to who were not infected. The average pre-operative haemoglobin for the patients who developed post-operative wound infection was 13.5, and for the non-infected were 15.0.
The infection group had an average glycated haemoglobin of 7.8 and the non-infection group 7.0. The research has not found any differences in BMI of the effected patients. The study was conducted by Dr Cornelia S Carr, Dr Nasir Mughal and Dr Abdulaziz M Alkhulaifi at the Heart Hospital. The researchers have raised the question if the haemoglobin a marker of overall poor nutrition and poor health or a specific risk factor with decreased oxygen carrying capacity leading to the development of wound infections?
With Qatar having a high rate of poorly controlled diabetes, researchers are also presently doing a multivariate analysis on the dataThe Peninsula
