[Characteristics of acute bacterial prostatitis in elderly patients attended in the Emergency Department]

To compare the characteristics of acute bacterial prostatitis between patients ≥75 years old with those <75 years old attended in the Emergency Department.

A descriptive and observational study was conducted with a prospective follow-up including all consecutive patients with acute bacterial prostatitis that were admitted during one year to the Emergency Department of a tertiary-care hospital. Data were collected for demographic variables, comorbidities, clinical and microbiological findings, treatment, outcome, and re-consultation at 30 days follow-up. Patients were compared depending on age.

A total of 241 episodes of acute bacterial prostatitis were included. The mean age was 62.9±16 years, and 64 patients (26.5%) were ≥75 years old. In the microbiology findings, 104 out of 215 (48.4%) of urine cultures and 25 out of 136 (18.4%) blood cultures were positive. Escherichia coli was the most frequent isolation, with resistance rates in elderly patients above 30% for ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin-clavulanic, and cotrimoxazole, and 15.4% of extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing strains. In the univariate analysis, previous manipulation of the urinary tract, history of cancer, previous antibiotic treatment, resistant E. coli strains, renal impairment, and admission to the hospital were more frequent among patients ≥75 years. Nonetheless, in the multivariate analysis only inadequate empirical antibiotic treatment was found to be significantly more frequent in elderly patients (P=.004).

Drug-resistance patterns to commonly used antibiotics should be considered when choosing empirical treatment for acute bacterial prostatitis in the Emergency Department setting, especially for patients ≥75 years.