Incidence and Factors Associated With Hospitalizations for Urinary Tract Infections Among Older People Residing in...

This study examined the incidence of hospitalizations for urinary tract infections (UTIs) and associated factors among residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) during the first 12 months of their LTCF stay.

Population-based retrospective cohort study.

This study included people aged ≥65 years who first entered an LTCF between 2015 and 2018 using data from the Registry of Senior Australians National Historical Cohort.

The cumulative incidence of hospitalizations of UTI in the 12 months following LTCF entry was evaluated. Individual, facility, medicine, and service utilization-related factors associated with hospitalizations for UTIs were investigated. A Fine-Gray model was used to estimate subdistribution hazard ratios (sHRs) and 95% CIs.

Of the 180,858 people included from 2464 LTCFs, 59.7% (n = 107,914) were female, with a median age of 85 years. The cumulative incidence of hospitalizations for UTIs in the 12 months after LTCF entry was 3.7% (95% CI 3.7-3.8). Factors associated with a higher rate of hospitalizations for UTIs included long-term urinary catheter use (sHR 3.39, 95% CI 3.16-3.65), history of hospitalizations with UTI (sHR 2.33, 95% CI 2.21-2.46), preferred language other than English (sHR 1.38, 95% CI 1.28-1.48), diabetes (sHR 1.29, 95% CI 1.22-1.37), high (sHR 1.30, 95% CI 1.19-1.41) or medium (sHR 1.21, 95% CI 1.11-1.32) need for assistance with activities of daily living, cerebrovascular disease (sHR 1.14, 95% CI 1.08-1.20), and urinary incontinence (sHR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.15).

A considerable burden of UTI-associated hospitalizations was observed in Australian LTCFs, which can be minimized through implementing effective UTI prevention, detection, and management strategies.