Urinary tract infections in the elderly. The effect of reducing the age criteria in a geriatric service

Abstract

Introduction: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common community-acquired infections in older adults. Methodology: This was a retrospective and descriptive study carried out in a Mexican Geriatric Service from January 2013 to December 2015. Demographic characteristics of patients were recorded including age, gender, cause of disease, urine culture, microorganism identifi cation and antibiogram. The objective of this study was to describe the situational status of microbial antibiotic resistance in the elderly after reduction of the age criteria to be treated in a geriatric service. Results: One hundred and eighty-two geriatric patients (74 males mean age 81.5±13.5 years and 108 females mean age 81.5±11.5 years) with positive urine culture for one or more microbial identifi cation and antibiograms were included in the analysis. The most common isolations were positive for Escherichia coli BLEE, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris and Klebsiella pneumoniae. After widening of the age range to enter the geriatric service (in 2015), there was a reduction in total cases of Escherichia coli BLEE and an increase for Escherichia coli. Conclusion: In our study, a growing increase of E. coli BLEE was recorded, however, at the same time, it was possible to confi rm that the majority of cases of this bacterium showed resistance to β-lactams, cephalosporins of different generations, quinolones and sulfas, demonstrating that it is becoming a public health problem.