OBJECTIVES: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are common complications following surgery that can extend patients’ hospital stay and increase hospital costs, the risk of morbidity, mortality and of intensive care treatment. Due to the high emergence of resistant bacteria, more attention is required preoperatively and intraoperatively to prevent SSIs. The objective of the study was to develop a simple tool that quantifies the risk of SSI. METHODS: The data for this study were obtained from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) in Montreal. The sample included patients undergoing surgery between November 2009 and December 2011. Bivariate analyses and stepwise multivariate logistic regression were used to identify risk factors that were independently associated with SSI risk. Logistic regression models with ROC curve analysis were used for the development of a risk-index tool for SSI. RESULTS: Male gender (OR=1.854, p=0.005), inpatient status (OR=9.491, p<0.001), hypertension (OR=2.464, p<0.001), corticosteroid use (OR=2.485, p=0.042) and partial or total dependence for everyday activities prior to surgery (OR=2.577, p=0.047) were independent predictors for SSI and were included in the SSI-risk tool. The SSI-risk tool has a range from 0 to 100. Scores below 43.17, between 43.17 and 63.40 and above 63.40 represent a low, moderate and high risk for SSI development, respectively. Compared to low-risk patients, moderate-risk patients had a relative risk of 3.963 (95% CI=2.58-6.08, p<0.001) and high-risk patients had a relative risk of 6.48 (95% CI=4.16-10.10, p<0.001) of developing an SSI. Overall, 3% of low-risk patients, 10% of moderate-risk patients and 16% of high-risk patients developed an SSI. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, a simple risk tool for quantifying SSI risk was developed. The tool has been validated for the JGH population. Further validation in other populations will be conducted.