Fracture‐related wound infections following surgical treatment of fractures in HIV‐positive and HIV‐negative patients: A meta‐analysis

Abstract

The meta‐analysis aims to evaluate and compare fracture‐associated wound infections (FAWIs) following surgical treatment of fractures in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐positive and HIV‐negative patients. Examinations comparing HIV‐negative to HIV‐negative for fracture was among the meta‐analysis from various languages that met the inclusion criteria. Using dichotomous random or fixed models, the results of these investigations were examined, and the Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals was computed (CIs). 14 examinations from 1991 to 2023 were recruited for the current analysis including 3528 personals with fractures. HIV‐positive had significantly higher FAWI before antiretroviral (OR, 3.59; 95% CI, 2.01–6.41, p < 0.001) compared to HIV‐negative personals with fractures. However, no significant difference was found between HIV‐positive and HIV‐negative in FAWI after antiretroviral (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.30–1.12, p = 0.10) in personals with fractures. The examined data revealed that HIV‐positive had significantly higher FAWI before antiretroviral, however, no significant difference was found in FAWI after antiretroviral compared to HIV‐negative personals with fractures. Nevertheless, caution should be exercised while interacting with its values since some of the chosen examinations were found with a low sample size and a low number of examinations were found for the comparisons studied for the meta‐analysis.