Postoperative infection with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and socioeconomic background.

STAPHYLOCOCCUS aureus infections; COMMUNICABLE diseases; SOCIOECONOMICS; DISEASES & society; PUBLIC health & society; SOCIAL indicators; SURGICAL complications; DISEASE risk factors; THERAPEUTICS

Infectious disease can be linked to social deprivation. We investigated whether postoperative infection with meticillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is related to socioeconomic background. Patients were stratified by social deprivation according to postcode. In a consecutive series of 1739 UK residents undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting, 23 (1.3%) were infected with MRSA. We noted a graded relation between incidence of infection and social deprivation. Patients from the most deprived areas had a seven-fold higher infection rate (13 of 579 [2.2%]) than those from the least deprived areas (two of 580 [0.3%]; p=0.0040). Patients with MRSA infection had a six-fold higher mortality rate and a longer hospital stay than patients with no such infection. Our findings suggest that patients from deprived areas might be especially susceptible to postoperative infection with MRSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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