Surgical-site infection after hip fracture surgery: preoperative full-body disinfection compared to local disinfection of the surgical site—a population-based observational cohort study

PURPOSE: Swedish national guidelines recommend full-body disinfection (FBD) with 4% chlorhexidine before hip fracture surgery to prevent surgical-site infection (SSI) despite little evidence. Our objective was to compare preoperative FBD with local disinfection (LD) of the surgical site regarding SSI incidence. METHODS: All patients with hip fracture, operated at a hospital in Sweden, January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019 were included. Patients in 2018 (n = 237) were prepared with FBD and patients in 2019 (n = 259) with LD. Primary outcome was SSI and secondary outcome was SSI and/or death. We adjusted for potential confounders with logistic regression. The adjusted analysis was performed in two models to enable assessment of variables that lacked either outcome; in the first model, these variables were not adjusted, and the second model was restricted to a sub-population not affected by respective variables. RESULTS: There were 16 (6.8%) cases of SSI in 2018 and 8 (3.1%) cases in 2019. FBD (2018) compared to LD (2019) presented an adjusted OR of 1.9 (95%CI 0.8–4.9, P = 0.16) respectively 2.0 (95%CI 0.8–5.1, P = 0.14) in the two models of the logistic regression. In addition, 40 (16.9%) patients in 2018 and 29 (11.2%) patients in 2019 had the combined outcome of SSI and/or death, adjusted OR 1.6 (95% CI 0.9–2.8, P = 0.08) respectively 1.7 (95% CI 0.9–2.9, P = 0.06). CONCLUSION: We found a non-significant increased risk of SSI 2018 compared to 2019 after adjustment. Randomized control trials are needed. Nonetheless, results suggest that LD is not inferior to FBD regarding SSI prevention, meaning patients could potentially be spared substantial pain.