Association Between Irrational Prophylactic Antibiotic Use and Post-Surgical Infections in Caesarean Section Patients at Indonesian Regional Hospitals

Abstract

This study explores the link between irrational prophylactic antibiotic use and post-surgical infections in caesarean sections in Indonesia. A cross-sectional design was used, with medical data collected from patients who underwent caesarean section and received prophylactic antibiotics between 2018 and 2022 in a regional hospital in Indonesia. Antibiotic prescriptions were evaluated for appropriateness according to national guidelines. Medical record data was used to gather information regarding obstetric surgical wound infection (ICD-10 code: O86.1). The adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were estimated via multivariate logistic regression. We analyzed data from 274 patients; 31 (11.3 %) were diagnosed with surgical site infection. Our findings show that the risk of surgical site infection significantly increases with inappropriate antibiotic type (aOR: 18.67, 95 % CI: 2.33-149.35) and duration of antibiotic use (aOR: 5.15, 95 % CI: 2.06-12.86). Adhering to national guidelines is crucial to reduce post-caesarean infections.