A study, published in the West Indian Medical Journal, examined surgical site infection rate among spine surgery patients in inpatient and outpatient sites.
Study authors examined a database of 1,010 spine procedures performed over a decade by a single surgeon. Researchers formed two groups of patients: 642 patients had a procedure in a hospital, while 368 had a procedure in an ASC.
Spine procedures included cervical fusions, disc replacements and lumbar decompression with or without fusion.
Here's what they found:
1. Surgical times in the hospital group were 217 ± 11 minutes, while the ASC group had times of 117 minutes ± eight minutes.
2. Overall SSI rate was 1.6 percent. There was a significant intergroup difference of 0.045 between hospitals and ASCs.
3. Several factors increased SSI risk. Obesity and multilevel surgeries were two such factors, with rates of 0.005 and 0.01, respectively.
4. Smoking increased SSI risk at a rate of 10.9.
Researchers concluded, "Incidence rate of SSIs in this study showed significant difference between inpatient and outpatient setting. Modifiable risk factors such as weight, smoking, alcohol use and numbers of levels necessary for operation should be considered. This will impact preoperative patient selection, the procedure required and allow for a decrease in SSI risk."