Background: Our study sought to describe the incidence of culture-confirmed postsurgical Staphylococcus aureus infection after elective hysterectomy and evaluate patient characteristics, risk factors, and economic consequences associated with Staphylococcus aureus infection. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients in the United States (≥18 years old; Kaiser Permanente health plan members) who underwent elective hysterectomy from 2007 to 2013. Hysterectomies were categorized by surgical setting (inpatient vs. outpatient) and procedure (abdominal, laparoscopic, or vaginal). We estimated the cumulative incidence of culture-confirmed Staphylococcus aureus infection (90 days post-surgery) and compared healthcare resource utilization and costs (within 120 days post-surgery) among patients with/without Staphylococcus aureus infection or with other infection. Results: Among 30,960 patients identified, 20,675 underwent inpatient hysterectomy (abdominal: 47.8%; laparoscopic: 24.8%; vaginal: 27.3%), and 10,285 underwent outpatient hysterectomy (laparoscopic: 86.1%; vaginal: 13.9%). The incidence of culture-confirmed Staphylococcus aureus infection was 0.8% and 0.4% for inpatient (abdominal: 1.2%; laparoscopic: 0.5%; vaginal: 0.2%) and outpatient (laparoscopic: 0.5%; vaginal: 0.1%) surgery, respectively. Patients with Staphylococcus aureus infection had more emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and re-operations compared with patients without infection or with non-Staphylococcus aureus infection. Mean total costs for patients with Staphylococcus aureus infection were higher (inpatient: $18,261; outpatient: $4,422) compared with patients without infection (inpatient: $6,171; p < 0.0001; outpatient: $905; p = 0.0023) or non-Staphylococcus aureus infection (inpatient: $11,207; p = 0.0117; outpatient: $3,005; p = 0.2117). Conclusions: Culture-confirmed postsurgical Staphylococcus aureus infection incidence was predominately associated with procedure type rather than surgical setting. Patients with post-surgical Staphylococcus aureus infection had higher health care utilization and costs than those without infection or with other infection types. Additional effective infection control strategies are needed to reduce the morbidity and costs associated with Staphylococcus aureus infection.
Keywords: MRSA; Staphylococcus aureus; hysterectomy; managed care; surgical site infection.