Trends in the incidence of surgical site infection in the Netherlands.

Objective. To evaluate the time trend in the surgical site infection (SSI) rate in relation to the duration of surveillance in The Netherlands. Setting. Forty‐two hospitals that participated in the the Dutch national nosocomial surveillance network, which is known as PREZIES (Preventie van Ziekenhuisinfecties door Surveillance), and that registered at least 1 of the following 5 frequently performed surgical procedures for at least 3 years during the period from 1996 through 2006: mastectomy, colectomy, replacement of the head of the femur, total hip arthroplasty, or knee arthroplasty. Methods. Analyses were performed for each surgical procedure. The surveillance time to operation was stratified in consecutive 1‐year periods, with the first year as reference. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed using a random coefficient model to adjust for random variation among hospitals. All models were adjusted for method of postdischarge surveillance. Results. The number of procedures varied from 3...