Background/Aim. Because patients in intensive care units usually have an
urinary catheter, the risk of urinary tract infection for these patients is
higher than in other patients. The aim of this study was to identify risk
factors and causative microrganisms in patients with catheter-associated
urinary tract infection (CAUTI) in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU)
during a 6-year period. Methods. All data were collected during prospective
surveillance conducted from 2006 to 2011 in the SICU, Military Medical
Academy, Belgrade, Serbia. This case control study was performed in patients
with nosocomial infections recorded during surveillance. The cases with
CAUTIs were identified using the definition of the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention. The control group consisted of patients with other
nosocomial infections who did not fulfill criteria for CAUTIs according to
case definition. Results. We surveyed 1,369 patients representing 13,761
patient days. There were a total of 226 patients with nosocomial infections
in the SICU. Of these patients, 64 had CAUTIs as defined in this study, and
162 met the criteria for the control group. Multivariate logistic regression
analysis identified two risk factors independently associated to CAUTIs: the
duration of having an indwelling catheter (OR = 1.014; 95% CI 1.005-1.024; p
= 0.003) and female gender (OR = 2.377; 95%CI 1.278-4.421; p = 0.006).
Overall 71 pathogens were isolated from the urine culture of 64 patients
with CAUTIs. Candida spp. (28.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.3%) and
Klebsiella spp. (15.5%) were the most frequently isolated microorganisms.
Conclusions. The risk factors and causative microrganisms considering CAUTIs
in the SICU must be considered in of planning CAUTIs prevention in this
setting.