Urinary tract infection in diabetic patients

Aim: The aim of the study was to compare the epidemiological, microbiologic al and clinical features of diabetic patients with urinary tract infection (UTI) to those of nondiabetic ones. Methods: A prospective study was perfor med on 490 consecutive patients with proven UTI. The patients were studied on the basis of a specific questionnaire and hospital records. Results: Of 490 enrolled patients, 89 (18.1%) had diabetes mellitus. The mean age of di abetics and nondiabetics was respectively 64.9 +/- 13.2 (SD) and 54.4 +/- 2 3.3 years. Most diabetics had asymptomatic bacteriuria and had undergone bl adder catheterization more frequently than the nondiabetics. The most frequ ent causative agents of UTI in diabetics and nondiabetics were: E. coli (re spectively, 56.1 vs. 56.8%), Proteus sp. (7.9% vs. 7.2%), Pseudomonas sp. ( 6.7 vs. 8.2%), Enterococcus sp, (6.7 vs. 7.2%). More than 50% of the isolat ed Pseudonomas sp. strains in both groups were resistant to gentamicin, pip eracillin and norfloxacin. Both diabetics (52.8%) and nondiabetics (42.2%) had recurrent UTI during the follow-up period; the difference in the incide nces did not reach statistical significance, Conclusion: No significant dif ferences in epidemiological, clinical and microbiological evaluated feature s of diabetics and nondiabetics were pointed out, except for the higher fre quency of bladder catheterization of diabetics than nondiabetics. However, the eradication of UTI seemed to be more difficult in diabetics than in non diabetics. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.