Characteristics of Nationwide Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Visits by Age and Type II Diabetes Status in Women

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2023-09, Vol.15 (9), p.e46000-e46000
• Main Authors: Papp, Sara B, Christie, Alana L, Zimmern, Philippe E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age groups; Antibiotics; Codes; Diabetes; Ethnicity; Hispanic Americans; Patients; Surgery; Urinalysis; Urinary tract diseases; Urinary tract infections; Urine; Urogenital system; Urology; Womens health
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.46000

BackgroundThrough a national database search of office visits, we studied the contribution of two known risk factors for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women: age and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).MethodologyThe National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) database was queried for visits including a UTI diagnosis and a urine culture order. Data were included for all visits involving adult women for available years, 2014-2016 and 2018. Data on demographics, reason for visit, T2DM status, UTI workup, and UTI treatment were collected. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease or chronic kidney disease were excluded. Descriptive statistics were displayed as weighted means with standard errors for continuous variables. The effect of age was compared based on a 65-year-old cutoff.ResultsOne hundred sixty-seven surveyed visits were analyzed for the years 2014-2016 and 2018, representing an estimated 7.4 million visits nationwide. Women ≥65 years were more likely to be white, non-Hispanic/non-Latino, from the Midwest or West, from metropolitan areas, and on Medicare/Medicaid than their younger counterparts. T2DM and urinalysis rates did not significantly vary between the two age groups (7.7% vs. 14.6%, P = 0.3; 78% vs. 76%, P = 0.9, respectively). For urinalysis rates between patients with and without T2DM, there was no significant difference in the