SynthesisJournal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract2014
Alcohol drinking does not affect postoperative surgical site infection or anastomotic leakage: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors Associated With Surgical Site Infections in Adults Following a Replacement of Weight-Bearing Joints: A Systematic Review.International wound journal · 2026Pooled it
- Perioperative alcohol cessation intervention for postoperative complications.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Alcohol Consumption Is a Risk Factor of Surgical Site Infection After Minimally Invasive Surgery: A Secondary Observational Analysis of a Clinical Trial.Annals of gastroenterological surgery · 2026Article
- Article
- Adverse outcomes after non-hepatic surgeries in patients with alcoholic liver diseases: a propensity-score matched study.BMC gastroenterology · 2022Article
- Association between alcohol use disorder and hospital outcomes in colectomy patients - A retrospective cohort study.Journal of clinical anesthesia · 2022Article
- Surgical site infections following caesarean sections in the largest teaching hospital in Ghana.Infection prevention in practice · 2022Article
- Predictors of Morbidity and Mortality After Colorectal Surgery in Patients With Cirrhotic Liver Disease-A Retrospective Analysis of 54 Cases at a Tertiary Care Center.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Alcohol consumption does not increase the risk of surgical wound complications in breast cancer patients.International wound journal · 2020Article
- Impact of alcohol use on 30-day complication and readmission rates after elective spinal fusion (≥2 levels) for adult spine deformity: a single institutional study of 1,010 patients.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2017Article
- Article
- Optimizing Surgical Site Infection Prevention in Dermatologic Surgery.Journal of cutaneous medicine and surgeryReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlcohol abuse appears to increase postoperative complications, but clinical trials have reported conflicting results. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to clarify how alcohol drinking affects postoperative surgical site infection and anastomotic leakage and to determine the impact of perioperative alcohol intervention. MATERIAL AND
methodsThe databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL were searched. Observational studies assessing surgical site infection and anastomotic leakage for alcohol drinkers and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) studying perioperative alcohol interventions were included. Meta-analyses were performed with random effects models. Methodological quality was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and Cochrane methodology.
resultsFifteen observational studies and 2 RCTs were identified. Meta-analyses were performed for alcohol drinkers vs nondrinkers and moderate drinkers (≤ 2 U/day), respectively. No difference between alcohol drinkers and nondrinkers was found. When drinkers and moderate drinkers were compared, a significantly higher incidence of surgical site infection and anastomotic leakage was found in unadjusted studies. In the meta-analysis of studies adjusting for smoking and age, alcohol drinking did not significantly affect surgical site infection and anastomotic leakage. The RCTs did not show any effect of perioperative alcohol abstinence or pharmacological withdrawal treatment on outcome.
conclusionsAlcohol drinking is not an independent risk factor for surgical site infection and anastomotic leakage. Interventions which aim to make patients quit alcohol or treat withdrawal symptoms do not seem to affect the surgical outcomes of interest.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.