Association of Operative Time with SSI in elderly patients with colon cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Abstract Objective A significant correlation between surgery time and surgical site infection (SSI) occurrence has been found. We collected clinical information from 1542 patients aged 60 years and older who underwent radical resection for colon cancer at the Department of Gastroenterology, Xijing Hospital. Methods In this study, clinical information of 1542 elderly colon cancer patients who met the nadir criteria was retrospectively collected for univariate and multifactorial analyses through the Electronic Medical Record. A smoothed curve between operative time and SSI was fitted using the generalized summation model (GAM). The curve was segmented by the trend of the curve to clarify the possible threshold effect of surgery time. Results We found a significant positive correlation between operative time and SSI after 132 min after adjusting for other confounding factors. The correlation between the two was not compelling at less than 132 min. There was a significant threshold effect between operative time and the occurrence of SSI (Log-likelihood ratio test P=0.024). Conclusions Our study shows that in elderly patients undergoing radical colon cancer, the operative time exceeding 132 min will significantly increase the odds of developing SSI.