Background and objective: To identify the infection risk factors in knee and hip total prosthesis.
Method: Case-control study of arthoplasties performed during 10 years.
Results: By means of conditional multivariate analysis, infection risk factors with greater odds ratio (OR) were surgical risk rate >or= 2, according to the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) (OR, 3.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-10.8) and post-operative non-infectious complications (OR, 8.9; 95% CI, 1.1-83.1) (p < 0.05). The global infection rate was 2.4% (95% CI, 1.6%-3.2%) of 1,666 joint implants. Gram-positive cocci were the principal involved microorganisms (63%).
Conclusions: A high NNIS together with non-infectious post-operative complications increase the risk of prosthesis infection.