Hydrophilic catheters for intermittent catheterization and occurrence of urinary tract infections. A retrospective comparative study in patients with spinal cord Injury

Background Neurogenic bladder dysfunction is a major problem for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients not only due to the risk of serious complications but also because of the impact on quality of life.

The main aim of this study is to compare the rate of urinary tract infection (UTI) associated with hydrophilic-coated catheters versus uncoated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) catheters among SCI patients presenting with functional neurogenic bladder sphincter disorders.

Methodology This was a retrospective cohort study from 2005 to 2020 including adult male or female patients who have an SCI at least more than 1 month ago with neurogenic bladder dysfunction and were using intermittent catheterization (single-use hydrophilic-coated or the standard-of-care polyvinyl chloride uncoated standard catheters) at least 3 times a day to maintain bladder emptying.

Results A total of 1000 patients were selected and recruited through a stratified random sampling technique with 467 (47.60%) patients in the uncoated catheter arm and 524 (52.60%) in the coated catheter groups.

The three outcome measures, namely: symptomatic UTI, Bacteriuria, and pyuria were significantly higher in the group using uncoated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) catheters compared to hydrophilic-coated catheters at the rate of 79.60% vs.46.60%, 81.10% vs. 64.69, and 53.57% versus 41.79% respectively.

Males, elder patients, longer duration, and severity of SCI were associated with increased risk of symptomatic UTI.

Conclusions The results indicate a beneficial effect regarding clinical UTI when using hydrophilic-coated catheters in terms of fewer cases of symptomatic UTI.

Bacteriuria is inevitable in patients with long-term catheterization, however, treatment should not be started unless the clinical symptoms exist.

More attention should be given to the high-risk group for symptomatic UTIs.