Objective: To estimate the incidence of urinary tract infections (UTI) in elderly patients in Spanish emergency departments (ED), the need for hospitalization, diagnostic confirmation in hospitalized patients, adverse events and the predictive capacity of several biomarkers.
Methods: In this a posteriori substudy of a generic study of reasons for ED visits in elderly patients, we included patients aged ≥65 years seen in 52 Spanish EDs for 1 week, selecting those diagnosed with UTI. As adverse events, in-hospital and 30-day mortality and combined adverse event (death or hospitalization) at 30 days post-discharge were collected. Relative risks (RR) were calculated. The predictive capacity of 10 variables and 6 biomarkers was investigated.
Results: A total of 25,375 patients were included, 1058 with UTI (annual incidence: 24.7 per 1000 inhabitants aged ≥65 years and year, 95%CI: 24.5-24.9). A total of 36.5% were hospitalized, and in 80% the diagnosis of UTI was confirmed at discharge. Overall 30-day mortality was 5.4% and in-hospital mortality was 3.4%. Functional dependence was associated with both events (RR:2.91;1.18-7.17 and RR:12.61;1.47-108.11, respectively), as was having a CRP greater than 100 mg/L (RR:2.24;1.17-4.30 and RR:3.21;1.37-7.51, respectively). The combined post-high event occurred in 10.6%, and was associated with functional dependence (RR:2.05;1.04-4.06). CRP and hemoglobin had significant value in predicting 30-day post-discharge mortality or hospitalization.
Conclusions: UTI is a frequent diagnosis in elderly patients consulting in the ED. Functional dependence is the best factor associated with adverse events. The biomarkers analyzed do not have a good predictive capacity.
Keywords: ED; Urinary tract infection; elderly; mortality.
©The Author 2024. Published by Sociedad Española de Quimioterapia. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).