Association between intraoperative hypotension and SSIs

Editor's Note

Intraoperative hypotension does not appear to be a clinically important predictor of surgical site infections (SSIs), this study finds.

Because hypotension compromises local tissue perfusion, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic hypothesized that intraoperative hypotension might promote infection.

Among 2,521 patients included in the analysis, there was no adjusted association between SSIs and low systolic blood pressure or low mean arterial pressure. There was also no association between duration of hypotension and time to discharge.

Objective: We tested the primary hypothesis that surgical site infections (SSIs) are more common in patients who had longer periods of intraoperative low blood pressure. Our secondary hypothesis was that hospitalization is prolonged in patients experiencing longer periods of critically low systolic blood pressure (SBP) and/or mean arterial pressure (MAP).