On August 20, 2024, the Journal of Surgical Research published “Benefits and Risks Associated with Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Thyroid Operations” by Samuel D. Squires BS, Robin M. Cisco MD, Dana T. Lin MD, Amber W. Trickey PhD, MS, CPH, Electron Kebebew MD, Saurabh Gombar MD, PhD, Ye Yuan MD, PhD, and Carolyn D. Seib MD, MAS.
Read the full paper in Journal of Surgical Research
Overview:
- More than 90,000 thyroid operations are performed every year in the United States.
- Surgical site infections (SSIs) are associated with patient morbidity and significant cost to the healthcare system
- Prophylactic antibiotics (pABX) are commonly used prior to thyroid operations . Overuse of antibiotics results in multidrug-resistant organisms, excess adverse drug reactions, and an increased risk of clostridium difficile infection
- The objective of this study was to assess the association of antibiotic prophylaxis with the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) among patients undergoing thyroidectomy.
Conclusions:
For the study, the team performed a retrospective cohort analysis using data from de-identified electronic health records (EHRs).
- Atropos Health provided access to real-world data (RWD), Real World Fitness Score™ (RWFS) for the datasets based on the question, and a final report (Prognostogram).
In this observational study, pABX use was not associated with a reduced risk of SSI in patients undergoing thyroid surgery. Focused efforts should be made to deimplement low-value pABX usage in thyroid surgery.
To learn how Atropos Health can accelerate and supplement your research with Real-World Evidence (RWE), email us: info@atroposhealth.com