Evaluation of antibiotic utilization pattern and economic outcomes associated with surgical site infection in surgical department of tertiary care hospitals Karachi, Pakistan.

Surgical Site Infection (SSI) has an enormous impact on patients' quality of life. SSIs further stresses on allocation of different health care resources and contribute significantly in terms of high cost of care. This was a prospective study carried out in tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan, involving abdominal surgeries and few other surgeries, in patients having 20 years of age and above, were admitted from June 2016 to May 2017. Total number of 554 patients were included. Data was collected in all relevant areas including utilization pattern of antibiotics, cost in term of infected and uninfected patients, the duration of patient stay etc. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. P value less than 0.005 was taken as significant. Single therapy of co amoxiclav or along with metronidazole and third generation cephalosporin were the most common prescribed antimicrobial groups. Amikacin most commonly used to treat post-surgical wound infection. Economic cost was high in terms of SSI patients. Duration of stay was found longer in infected patients. It can be concluded that SSI, may prolong length of hospitalization, cause morbidity, upsurge the health care cost and even may lead to mortality.