Investigation of Nosocomial Urinary Tract Infections in Patients with Urinary Catheters

Aim: The most significant adverse outcome of urinary catheter use is the development of a urinary tract infection (UTI). This study evaluates the role of urinary catheterization in emergencies compared to elective conditions in wards, focusing on the development of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CA-UTI). Methods: Our study is a single-center retrospective case-control study between August 1 and December 30, 2021. The case group consists of patients aged 18 years and older, who underwent urinary catheterization in the emergency department (ED) and were hospitalized for at least 48 hours. The control group consisted of patients who underwent elective urinary catheterization in the wards and continued to be hospitalized for at least 48 hours. Two groups were compared in terms of development, predisposing factors of CA-UTI and reasons of using urinary catheter. Results: The most reason for urinary catheterization in case and control groups, each of consisted of 106 patients, is for patients’ unstable medical conditions with ratios of 82.1% and 77.4%, respectively. The duration of urinary catheterization in case and control groups was 8.4 and 11.17 days, respectively (p0.005). Conclusion: The process of urinary catheterization in the emergency department has not been identified as an additional risk factor for the development of CA-UTI when compared to urinary catheterization in the ward. No difference was detected in terms of catheter practitioner. This may be related to the small total number of cases, the longer catheterization duration in the control group, and the low prevalence of CA-UTI in the study.