Abstract: OBJECTIVE To evaluate the direct economic loss due to surgical site infection (SSI) in hospitalized patients, so as to references for health policy. METHODS Surgical cases of secondary medical institutions in 2015were retrospectively selected, and 1∶1 conditional matching method was carried out. The patients with surgical site infection were set as SSI group, while the patients without infection during operation were set as control group, and 42 pairs were matched. The hospital stay and hospital charge of the two groups were compared. RESULTS The median of hospital charge of SSI group and control group were respectively 26514.0Yuan and 17316.0 Yuan.There was a significant difference between the two groups (P＜0.05). The median of direct extra hospital charge of each SSI patient was 8095.5Yuan. The median of the hospital of stay of SSI group and control group were respectively 22.5 days and 11.0 days. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P＜0.05). The median of extra hospitalization day was 11.5 days.The SSI at different sites led to different extra hospitalization days and economic loss. CONCLUSION SSI causes significant clinical and economic burden. So, effective prevention and control of SSI can reduce the economic loss of patients, increase the hospital income, and reduce the burden of the health system.