Research Article
Aklilu Mamo Dacho and Abiy
Abstract
Background: Wound infection is a common complication of caesarean section and may lead to maternal sepsis, increased health care costs, prolonged hospital stay and negatively influences the outcome of the patient. Even though the extent of the problem is expected to be high in Ethiopia, it was not studied well. Objective: To assess the magnitude of post caesarean section surgical site infection and its associated factors among mothers who underwent caesarean section in Mizan Tepi university teaching hospital, south west Ethiopia, 2017. Methods: Cross-sectional study design was conducted in Mizan Tepi university teaching hospital from March 10-30, 2017. A total of 325 records of mothers were reviewed based on CDC criteria for surgical site infection after selecting the cards by simple random methods. Data were entered in epidata version 3.1and analysed with using frequency, percentage and binary logistic. Result: Overall post caesarean section surgical site infection rate was 12.9%. Rupture of membrane <24 h (AOR=0.35, 95% CI: 0.129, 0.897), pre-operative hematocrit count of <30% (AOR=2.598, 95% CI: 1.125, 6.003) and post-operative admission for less than 8 days (AOR=0. 109, 95% CI: 0.043, 0.276) were found to be independent predictors of post caesarean section surgical site infection. Conclusion and recommendation: Post caesarean section surgical site infection was found to be high in Mizan Tepi University teaching hospital. Rupture of membrane <24 h, pre-operative hematocrit count of <30% and postoperative admission for less than 8 days were found to be significant factors for post caesarean section surgical site infection. Effort should be made to prevent prolonged rupture of membrane and accessing and proper counselling on the appropriate utilization of iron folate at antenatal care setting should be stressed.