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The following is a summary of “Influence of operating room temperature and humidity on surgical site infection: A multisite ACS-NSQIP analysis,” published in the December 2023 issue of Surgery by Hammond, et al.

The existing literature lacks a comprehensive evaluation of intraoperative temperature and humidity in relation to the risk of surgical site infection (SSI).

For a study, researchers reviewed all operations reported to the ACS-NSQIP across three centers from 2016 to 2020, recording ambient intraoperative temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) and relative humidity (RH) at 15-minute intervals. The primary endpoint was superficial SSI, analyzed using multi-level logistic regression.

The analysis included 14,519 operations with 179 SSIs (1.2%). The lower and upper 10th percentiles for temperature were 64.4°F and 71.4°F, and for RH were 33.5% and 55.5%, respectively. Neither low nor high temperature showed a significant increase in SSI risk (Low ⁰F OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.51–1.77, P = 0.86; High ⁰F OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 0.69–1.86, P = 0.63). Similarly, low and high RH did not significantly increase SSI risk (Low RH OR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.58–1.61, P = 0.88; High RH OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.33–1.14, P = 0.12). Combined analysis of temperature and humidity also revealed no increased SSI risk.

The study suggested that significant deviations in intraoperative temperature and humidity were not associated with an increased risk of SSI.

Reference: americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-9610(23)00313-6/abstract