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

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Evidence shows that intermittent catheterisation (IC) for bladder emptying is linked to urinary tract infections (UTIs) and poor quality of life (QoL). AIM: To investigate the association between UTI risk factors and QoL and patient-reported UTIs respectively. METHODS: A survey was distributed to IC users from 13 countries. FINDINGS: 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). CONCLUSION: 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.