Risk factors for urinary tract infections associated with lower quality of life among intermittent catheter users

Evidence shows that intermittent catheterisation (IC) for bladder emptying is linked to urinary tract infections (UTIs) and poor quality of life (QoL).

To investigate the association between UTI risk factors and QoL and patient-reported UTIs respectively.

A survey was distributed to IC users from 13 countries.

Among 3464 respondents, a significantly poorer QoL was observed when experiencing blood in the urine, residual urine, bowel dysfunction, recurrent UTIs, being female, and applying withdrawal techniques. A lower UTI risk was found when blood was not apparent in urine (RR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.55-0.71), the bladder was perceived empty (RR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.72-0.96), not having bowel dysfunction (RR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.76-0.98), and being male (RR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.62-0.79).

This study underlines the importance of risk factors and their link to QoL and UTIs, highlighting the need for addressing symptoms before UTIs become problematic.