Abstract
Background:
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common bacterial diseases. We related diagnosis of UTIs based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) and in-hospital mortality (IHM) in a cohort of hospitalized elderly subjects.
Methods:
All patients admitted between 2000 and 2013 to the general hospital of Ferrara, in northeast Italy, with ICD-9-CM code of UTIs were included. IHM was the main outcome, and age, sex, type of microorganism, sepsis, and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) based on ICD-9-CM, were also analyzed.
Results:
The total sample included 2,266 patients (1,670 women, 73.7%) with UTIs and identification of a cultural organism. Mean age was 81.7±7.5 years (range, 65–103). One hundred and sixteen (5.1%, of whom 34.5% were male and 65.5% were female) cases developed sepsis, and 84 (3.7%, of whom 45.2% were male, 54.8% were female) had a fatal outcome. Nonsurvivors had lower prevalence of IVUs due to Escherichia coli (53.6 vs. 71.7%, p<0.001) and higher prevalence of UTIs due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19 vs 7.1%, p<0.001). Moreover, non-survivors developed more frequently sepsis (31% vs. 4.1%, p<0.001), and had higher CCI (2.81±2.43 vs. 2.21±2.04, p=0.011). IHM was independently associated, in decreasing order of odds ratios (ORs), with sepsis (OR 10.3; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 6.113–17.460, p<0.001), P. aeruginosa infection (OR 2.541; 95% CI 1.422–4.543, p=0.002), female gender (OR 2.324; 95% CI 1.480–3.650, p<0.001), CCI (OR 1.103; 95% CI 1.005–1.210, p=0.038), age (OR 1.034; 95% CI 1.002–1.066, p=0.036), and E. coli infection (OR 0.5; 95% CI 0.320–0.780, p=0.002).
Conclusions:
In a large sample of elderly patients hospitalized for UTIs in a single center in northeastern Italy, apart the development of sepsis, IHM was much more dependent on pathogen and female gender than comorbidity index and age.
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