Abstract: OBJECTIVE To explore the risk factors for postoperative nosocomial infections in patients with papillary thyroid cancer so as to improve the curative effect of surgical procedures, reduce the infection rate, and provide guidance. METHODS The clinical data were collected from 120 patients with papillary thyroid cancer who were treated in hospitals from Jan 2014 to Dec 2014, all of the enrolled patients underwent surgical resection, and the self-prepared questionnaires were employed to investigate the clinical data of the patients, including the name, age, blood glucose level, drainage tube indwelling, and duration of drainage. The risk factors for the postoperative nosocomial infections in the patients with papillary thyroid cancer were observed, and the statistical analysis of data was performed with the use of SPSS 18.0 software. RESULTS Of the 120 patients with papillary thyroid cancer, 15 had postoperative nosocomial infections, with the infection rate of 12.5%. Among the patients with the postoperative nosocomial infections, 46.47% had respiratory tract infections, 33.33% had urinary tract infections, 13.33% had surgical incision infections, and 6.67% had other sites of infections. The prevalence of the postoperative nosocomial infections in the papillary thyroid cancer patients was not associated with the blood pressure or prophylactic use of antibiotics. The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the risk factors for the postoperative nosocomial infections in the patients with papillary thyroid cancer included the no less than 60 years of age, duration of drainage more than 3 days, rubber drainage tube indwelling, and blood glucose level no less than 6.2 mmol/L (P<0.05). CONCLUSION There are a variety of risk factors for the postoperative nosocomial infections in the patients with papillary thyroid cancer. It is necessary to put forward the targeted intervention measures according to the risk factors so as to reduce the incidence of the postoperative nosocomial infections.