Early urinary tract infection after spinal cord injury: a retrospective inpatient cohort study

Study design: Retrospective audit. Objectives: Examine factors associated with urinary tract infection (UTI), UTI incidence and impact on hospital length of stay (LOS) in new, inpatient adult traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Western Australian Hospitals managing SCI patients. Methods: Data on UTIs, bladder management and LOS were obtained from hospital databases and medical records over 26 months. Adherence to staff-administered intermittent catheterisation (staff-IC) was determined from fluid balance charts. Results: Across the cohort (n = 70) UTI rate was 1.1 starts/100 days; UTI by multi-resistant organisms 0.1/100 days. Having ≥1 UTIs compared with none and longer duration of initial urethral indwelling catheterisation (IDC) were associated with longer LOS (p-values < 0.001). For patients with ≥1 UTIs (n = 43/70), longer duration of initial IDC was associated with shorter time to first UTI (1 standard deviation longer [SD, 45.0 days], hazard ratio (HR): 0.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.5–1.0, p-value 0.044). In turn, shorter time to first UTI was associated with higher UTI rate (1 SD shorter [30.7 days], rate ratio (RR): 1.32, 95%CI 1.0–1.7, p-value 0.039). During staff-IC periods (n = 38/70), protocols were followed (85.7% ≤ 6 h apart, 96.1% < 8 h), but 26% of IC volumes exceeded 500 mL; occasional volumes > 800 mL and interruptions requiring temporary IDC were associated with higher UTI rates the following week (odds ratios (ORs): 1.6, 95%CI 1.1–2.3, p-value 0.009; and 3.9, 95%CI 2.6–5.9, p-value < 0.001 respectively). Conclusions: Reducing initial IDC duration and limiting staff-IC volumes could be investigated to possibly reduce inpatient UTIs and LOS. Sponsorship: None.