A model to predict the risk of infected episiotomy in low-risk women

Abstract

Purpose: Infected episiotomy (IE) is a rare complication of vaginal delivery. However, the practical use of the risk factors involved in the development of IE is unclear. The aim of this study is to create a risk scoring model to be applied in clinical practice with the risk factors we will determine so as to predict the development of IE. Materials and Methods: All women who were delivered vaginally with mediolateral episiotomy within a 1-year period were included in this retrospective study. While 42 women (cases) with the diagnosis of IE were eligible for inclusion in the study and formed the case group, randomly selected 168 women in whom IE was not detected formed the control group. Possible risk factors for the development of IE were evaluated by multivariate regression analysis. Results: The analysis revealed 5 significant independent factors related to IE. Among these factors, 5 points were given to current smoking presence, 4 points to weight gain during pregnancy ≥11.5 kg, 3 points to postpartum neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio ≥10.4, 2 points to presence of diabetes mellitus, and 1 point to presence of hospitalization before active phase of labor. And a cut-off value of 5.5 was found to be moderately effective in predicting IE. Conclusion: Consequently, this five-variable model can predict the presence of IE with significant efficiency. In the presence of these variables, the clinician can identificate the patients at risk of IE. In this way, individualized patient risk assessment and situation-specific counseling can be made.

Keywords

• episiotomy
• infection
• risk score
• postpartum complications
• epizyotomi
• enfeksiyon
• risk skoru
• postpartum komplikasyonlar