Summary

Introduction: World population is ageing. Accordingly, the prevalence of health problems and diseases are also increasing. Aging is associated with a growing demand for acute and primary healthcare. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infectious diseases associated causes of hospitalization. When considering the fact that complicating factors are encountered more often in elderly patients, it is very important to find out these factors and start the appropriate treatment for the management of these patients in order to prevent untoward consequences. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the patients diagnosed with UTI in two different age groups and analyze the differences in advanced ages.

Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated demographic characteristics, complaints, underlying diseases and the results of physical examination and laboratory analyses in patients with diagnosis of UTI in our clinic. We divided the subjects into two groups: ≥65 years of age and <65 years of age.

Results: There were a total of 127 patients with UTI [82 female (64.6%)]. The mean age of the patients was 53.9±20.6 years. Forty-eight patients (37.7%) were aged ≥65 years. Suprapubic pain and costovertebral angle tenderness were found to be significantly less frequent in patients ≥65 years of age (p<0.05) than those in the other group whereas hypotension and urinary incontinence were significantly more common (p<0.05). When the patients were evaluated in terms of underlying diseases and complicating factors, urological procedures (33.3%), urological malignancy (18.8%), urinary catheter (43.8%), benign prostatic hyperplasia (44.4%), and diabetes mellitus (57.1%) were found to be more frequent in patients aged ≥65 years.

Conclusion: In elderly patients, UTIs can be seen with insignificant clinical symptoms and signs. Especially in elders, UTIs emerge an important health issue because of the increased comorbities and complicating factors, commonly use of symptom-based diagnostic approach and serious complications. The presence of complicating factors is important in guiding diagnosis and treatment of UTI patients. For this reason, a careful approach toward UTIs and rigorous examination of comorbidities and complicating factors are warranted in elderly patients.