Abstract

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a significant post-operative complication globally,
contributing to 38.8% of cases. However, the prevalence and associated factors of SSI at
Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital (FRRH) remained unknown, prompting this study. We
collected socio-demographic, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data from 210
systematically selected patient files using a pretested checklist questionnaire. Data was
analyzed with IBM SPSS version 25.0. The mean participant age was 44.5 years ± 13.2, with
a majority of 147 (70.0%) being male. The prevalence of SSI was 9.0%, and significant
associations were observed between SSI and age over 51 years (X2=11.009, P=0.011),
obesity (X2=12.835, P=0.002), anemia (X2=4.319, P=0.038), and timing of antibiotic
prophylaxis (X2=6.902, P=0.032). Compared to developed countries, SSI prevalence at this
hospital was higher. Age over 51, obesity, anemia, and postoperative antibiotic initiation
were identified as risk factors for SSI. Further nationwide studies are warranted to
determine SSI prevalence in Uganda, and establishing a surveillance system for SSI in
hospitals is strongly recommended to reduce infection rates, particularly at FRRH.