AIM: Identifying and intervening with high-risk postoperative pulmonary infections patients pose challenges in clinical practice. This study aims to conduct a comprehensively analysis of the risk factors and predictive factors associated with post-gastrointestinal surgery pulmonary infections and to develop a predictive model that can predict occurrence of pulmonary infection. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 96 patients who underwent gastrointestinal surgery at our hospital from May 2021 to October 2023. The occurrence rate of postoperative pulmonary infections was calculated, and patients were categorized into two groups: those with pulmonary infections (the occurrence group) and those without pulmonary infections (the non-occurrence group). Logistic regression analysis was utilized to identify the risk factors for post-gastrointestinal surgery pulmonary infections and to evaluate the predictive value of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) and T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-4 (TIM-4) using nomograms, calibration curves, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS: Out of 96 patients, 20 (20.83%) developed postoperative pulmonary infections. Significant differences were noted between occurrence and non-occurrence groups in terms of smoking (65.00% vs. 34.21%, p = 0.013), surgical duration (70.00% vs. 31.58%, p = 0.002), Preoperative hemoglobin level (35.00% vs. 65.79%, p = 0.013), sTREM-1 levels (23.57 +/- 3.16 pg/mL vs. 15.62 +/- 2.48 pg/mL, p < 0.001), and TIM-4 levels (61.48 +/- 6.35 pg/mL vs. 44.73 +/- 5.22 pg/mL, p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis leads to the development of a risk prediction model for post-gastrointestinal surgery pulmonary infections. The high predictive values of sTREM-1 (Area Under Curve (AUC) = 0.962, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.917 similar to 0.999) and TIM-4 (AUC = 0.970, 95% CI 0.925 similar to 1.000) were highlighted by the AUC values, underscoring their clinical importance. CONCLUSIONS: A predictive model utilizing sTREM-1 and TIM-4 for pulmonary infection following gastrointestinal surgery was developed. Additionally, other risk factors such as smoking, surgical duration, and preoperative hemoglobin level were evaluated. This finding can be applied in clinical practice to identify potentially susceptible patients and facilitate early intervention measures.
