Is early prediction of postpartum wound infection possible? A retrospective cohort study.

Objective: This study investigated whether delta-neutrophil index(DNI) and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values have prognostic significance in wound infections after cesarean section. 
Material and Methods: In this retrospective study, one hundred and ten patients who developed wound infection and were rehospitalized after cesarean section in a tertiary health center between 2015 and 2019 formed the study group. The same number of patients were in the control group; laboratory tests including DNI, leukocyte count, and percentage of neutrophils were measured 12 hours before surgery (day 0) and 24 hours after surgery (day 1). It was investigated whether these results had predictive value for wound infection. 
Results: The mean age of patients included in the study was 30.6 (17-55) years, and body mass index was 28.4±3.95 kg/m2. The optimal cut-off value for NLR day 0 was 4.0, with a sensitivity of 80%, a specificity of 38.7%, a positive likelihood ratio of 1.31, a negative likelihood ratio of 0.52. Factors that were effective for the development of wound infection were NLR day 0, 1, and delta. In addition, body mass index was found to be greater than 27, number of cesarean sections was greater than one, and operative time was greater than 50 minutes and less than 30 minutes. 
Conclusion: We demonstrated that NLR values during cesarean section predicted the development of infections after cesarean section.