Risk of nosocomial infections and effects of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol in surgical patients

Background and aims: Changes of lipoprotein pattern in plasma occur in many acute infections. The aim of this study was to analyse the role of total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol in postsurgical patients with nosocomial infection. Methods: Four hundred and eighteen patients admitted to our department and operated on for various diseases are included in this prospective study. Various conventional risk factors for nosocomial infections were recorded. Biochemical parameters with plasma total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were measured. Results: In our study, the most frequent infection was surgical site infection. There was an increased association between low HDL-C level and nosocomial infections such as surgical site and pulmonary infections. HDL levels may be used as predictive parameter for surgical nosocomial infections. Conclusions: HDL-C levels seem to be one of the risk factors for postoperative nosocomial infection. Although total cholesterol level was not significantly increased, it may be also associated with the infection risk. Screening of lipoprotein pattern in patients undergoing operation may be useful for ascertaining of risk for nosocomial infection. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.