Surgical Site Infection Rates in Obese Patients After Cesarean Delivery

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age: any female in childbearing period.
• Women planned for elective Cesarean section.
• Obese women (BMI ≥ 30 Kg/m2). Our study calculated the BMI of patients from their weight and height at admission, because the pre-pregnancy BMI was not available for all patients, and we hypothesized that the BMI at admission was a better indicator of body mass during the at-risk time for development of SSI than was the pre-pregnancy BMI.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Women who had concurrent overt infection (e.g.chorioamnionitis, pyelonephritis or chest infection).
• Women who had intraoperative events that may themselves predispose to perioperative infection (e.g. bowel injury, operative time more than 90 minutes, major blood loss).
• Women who had hemoglobin less than 10g/dl, preeclampsia, diabetes, rupture of membranes more than 12 hours, corticosteroid therapy.
• Patients who had non Pfannenstiel incision.