For the study, researchers from Corvallis-based Oregon State University examined 3,000 patients.
They found 10.6 per 1,000 patients developed a UTI while in the hospital, while 29.8 per 1,000 patients developed a UTI within 30 days of going home.
There are several risk factors for healthcare-associated UTIs that develop outside the hospital, including catheterization, being quadriplegic and paraplegic and prior use of some antibiotics.
While the results don’t indicate with absolute certainty that the UTIs were acquired in the hospital, “the evidence is strong enough to warrant further study,” said Jessina McGregor, PhD, associate professor at Oregon State’s College of Pharmacy in Corvallis and the study’s corresponding author.
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