Objectives: We aimed to analyze whether sex was a risk factor for the development of mediastinitis after cardiac surgery. Methods: Literature screening was performed using PubMed database without date limitation. Trial results were evaluated with random or fixed-effect model according to the heterogeneity. Statistical evaluation was performed. Results: In total, 4044 articles were obtained after database searching. Of all these articles, 32 articles containing 1.11.303 patients, which satisfied the inclusion criteria, were included in the meta-analysis. The rate of mediastinitis was 2.19%. The effect size was observed as heterogeneous (Q: 89.09, df(Q): 31, p: 0.00, I2: 65.20%). Analysis results according to the random effect model were as follows: OR (odds ratio), 1.09; 95% CI, 0.90–1.32; and p=0.34 (p>0.05). Conclusion: The results of the quantitative analysis showed that a patient’s sex does not predict the development of mediastinitis after cardiac surgery for children and/or adults.
Corresponding Author: Selen Ozturk