Development of a Risk Model for Abdominal Wound Dehiscence

Abstract

Objectives: To identify independent risk factors for abdominal wound dehiscence and develop a risk model to recognize high risk patients. Methods: The samples studied were patients who underwent midline laparotomy in the department of surgery, SMHS Hospital Srinagar from March 2009 to April 2015. For each case of abdominal wound dehiscence, three controls were selected from a group of patients who had undergone open abdominal surgery as close as possible in time. Preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative variables and in-hospital mortality were studied for all patients. Cases were compared with controls using the chi-square test or the Mann-Whitney U-test for categorical or continuous data, respectively. Subsequently, multivariate stepwise logistic regression with backwards elimination test used to identify main independent risk factors of abdominal wound dehiscence. The resulting regression coefficients for the major risk factors were used as weights for these variables to calculate a risk score for abdominal wound dehiscence. Results: 140 cases of abdominal wound dehiscence were reported and compared with 420 selected controls. All variables that were significant in univariate analyses were entered in a multivariate stepwise logistic regression to determine which variables were significant independent risk factors. Major independent risk factors were male gender, chronic pulmonary disease, corticosteroid use, smoking, obesity, anemia, jaundice, ascites, and sepsis, type of surgery, postoperative coughing, and wound infection. Based on these findings, a risk model was developed. Conclusions: The model can give an estimate of the risk of abdominal wound dehiscence for individual patients. High-risk patients may be planned preventive wound closing with reinforcements as mesh.