O’Brien WJ, et al. - Researchers examined whether infection during postoperative days 0 to 30 is associated with an elevated incidence of infection and mortality during postoperative days 31 to 365 via performing a retrospective observational cohort study of 659,486 veterans undergoing major surgery through the Veterans Health Administration from January 2008 to December 2015. During follow-up, a 30-day infection was reported in 23,815 (3.6%), a long-term infection was reported in 43,796 (6.6%), and death was reported for 24,810 (3.8%). As per the analysis, patients with 30-day postoperative infection had a 3.2-fold higher risk of 1-year infection and a 1.9-fold higher risk of mortality at any given point during the follow-up period when compared with those who had no 30-day infection. They recommend considering this finding in cost-benefit calculations for surgical infection prevention programs.