Objectives: Our goal was to define risk factors for limb (leg) surgical site infections (SSIs) following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with open saphenous vein grafting and to estimate their consequences for patients.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in a primary and tertiary hospital in Israel that included all adult patients undergoing CABG with open saphenous vein harvesting (November 2014-August 2016). Patients were followed perioperatively from admission until 90 days postoperatively, including post-discharge follow-up. Operative data were collected prospectively. We analysed risk factors for leg SSIs using univariate and multivariate methods.

Results: Thirty-six of 351 (10.3%) patients developed leg SSI. Median time to detection was 14 days (interquartile range 11-24) and 25/36 (69.4%) patients were diagnosed after discharge. Independent risk factors for SSI included female sex [odds ratio (OR) 4.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.79-9.28], body mass index >30 (OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.01-4.48), peripheral vascular disease (OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.48-7.49) and use of more than 1 saphenous vein graft (OR 2.08, 95% CI 0.88-4.96). Infected patients had longer hospitalizations after surgery [7 days (5-12) vs 6 days (5-7), P = 0.002], higher antibiotic consumption (P = 0.002) and higher readmission rates of 24/36 (66.7%) vs 59/262 (22.5%) (P < 0.001) than non-infected controls.

Conclusions: Leg SSIs following coronary artery bypass surgery are common and associated with morbidity. We suggest reconsidering open saphenous vein harvesting in obese female patients with peripheral vascular disease.