Surgical site wound infection rates and its risk factors following emergency caesarean sections.

Objective: To determine the frequency of surgical site wound infection and factors responsible for it following emergency Caesarean section performed in, PNS SHIFA Hospital Karachi. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, PNS SHIFA Hospital Karachi. Period: 4th July 2021 to 4th January 2022. Material & Methods: Three hundred eleven women with term pregnancy undergoing emergency Caesarean section for maternal or foetal indications were included in this study. Wound inspection for signs of infection was done every day. Factors responsible of causing wound infection were noted from the discharge card. All the information was recorded on a preformed questionnaire. Results: 62(19.94%) of 311 women experienced surgical site wound infections in which prolonged duration of rupture of membranes was the commonest factors i.e. 51.6% (32/62), prolong duration of labor before operation 29%(18/62) and excessive volume of intra operative blood loss 29% (18/62). Conclusion: It is concluded there is a need to adopt specific preventative measures to decrease the frequency of identified factors so that the frequency of wound infection after the emergency caesarean section can be controlled with decreasing maternal morbidity and reduce hospital stays and thus, reducing the cost of treatment.