OBJECTIVE To investigate the direct economic losses caused by surgical site infection (SSI) in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery and provide references for medical institutions to develop infection prevention and control measures.

METHODS Clinical data of 8 207 patients undergoing orthopedic surgery from the People′s Hospital of Sanshui District, Foshan City, between 2021 and 2023 were retrospectively collected. Among them, 98 patients with SSI were assigned to the SSI group, while non-infected patients were included in the non-infection group. Based on a 1∶1 matched case-control principle, 68 well-matched pairs of case-control samples were selected for comparative analysis. Key indicators such as hospitalization costs and postoperative hospital stays were described as medians, and intergroup differences were analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

RESULTS The SSI incidence rate was 1.19% (98/8 207). Compared to non-infected patients, those with SSI had an average prolonged postoperative hospital stay of 13.95 days, with an average direct economic loss of RMB 14 305.50 yuan per case. Direct economic losses due to SSI varied among patients with different surgical sites, age groups and whether medical devices were implanted. There were statistically significant differences in the increased hospitalization costs and postoperative hospital stays between the SSI group and the non-infected group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS SSI in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery leads to increased hospitalization costs, prolonged postoperative hospital stays and greater direct economic losses. Therefore, medical institutions should implement a series of efficient and targeted prevention and control measures to effectively reduce SSI incidence rate, thereby improve medical quality and patient safety.