Evaluation of urinary tract infections in geriatric patients attending a tertiary care hospital

Introduction: In geriatric patients, urinary tract infections (UTIs) can pose quite a challenge to the treating clinicians regarding the approach for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention as the patients frequently present with symptoms which may be nonspecific and are associated with comorbid conditions. Aims and Objectives: The study aimed to determine the frequency and specificity of the clinical features of UTI in the geriatric group and their relationship with characteristics that define functional ability in them. Materials and Methods: A total of 380 geriatric patients were recruited for the study. Associated symptoms, isolation of recognized pathogen on culture and evidence of white blood cells in the urine were taken as criteria for diagnosing UTI in these patients. Results: Out of 380 patients recruited in our study 56.31% were males and 43.68% comprised of females. Burning micturition was a predominant symptom in both males (66.8%) and females (72.2%). Most common predisposing factor was diabetes mellitus in 61% of the geriatric population in our study. Escherichia coli was the predominant organism isolated from specimens of 59.73% patients. Mortality rate in our study was 10.26%. There was a significant association (P value <0.001) between diabetes mellitus and the mortality rate. Statistically significant high mortality rate was also seen in patients with chronic kidney disease (P value <0.00001) and with increasing number of predisposing factors (P value <0.00725). Conclusion: Considering the potential for serious complications and mortality in the elderly patients with UTI they should be clinically evaluated systematically specifying a necessity for prompt diagnostic