|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By Keith Mulvihill
NEW ORLEANS, Mar 12 (Reuters Health) - Testing for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in frail, elderly patients with urinary incontinence can be a difficult and uncomfortable task--a problem that is only made worse when the patient is also suffering from dementia.
Now, researchers are hoping to test urine from incontinence pads instead of the traditional method of directly testing collected urine, which can be difficult to obtain from elderly, bedridden patients.
Susan J. Midthun, of the University of North Dakota School of Nursing in Grand Forks, presented the results of her research team's study here on Saturday at the first joint conference of the American Society on Aging and The National Council on the Aging.
UTIs affect up to 40% of nursing home elderly and are extremely difficult to diagnose in frail, incontinent patients because many of the symptoms that are common, especially in younger populations, are chronic in the frail elderly--such as burning sensation when urinating or cloudy urine, Midthun explained.
Typically, testing for a UTI calls for the use of a dipstick that is placed directly into a urine sample--called a clean catch sample. The dipstick measures the amount of white blood cells and also nitrite levels in the urine, which indicates the presence of bacteria.
"In the elderly, these are the two biggest indicators that would tell you if they had a UTI or not," she said.
"In our study, we wanted to find out if you took that dipstick and pressed it into a urinary incontinence pad, would it give you the same measures of nitrites and white blood cells as the dipstick in clean catch urine specimen," Midthun told Reuters Health.
"There have been previous studies that show that this method has potential," she added.
The new study was funded by the Retirement Research Foundation of Chicago, Illinois.
Among 101 nursing home residents studied, the researchers "found that for measuring nitrites, results of the (pad press) test were as effective as the dipstick in the urine specimen," Midthun said. However, both tests were often negative in elderly patients who turned out to have UTIs.
The pad press was not as effective for measuring white blood cell counts and this is a problem that will need further investigation.
"This is the first step in being able to avoid routine catheterizations, especially in incontinent patients with dementia," she noted.
"If you came up with a positive test on the (incontinence) pad you could be pretty sure that the patient had a UTI. A negative test on the other hand would not rule out the possibility of a UTI and further tests would have to be done," Midthun explained.
In addition, Midthun pointed out that UTIs are not very well understood in the elderly and perfecting this "pad press" method would be a good way of monitoring for bacteria in this population.
"More importantly, this would give us an inexpensive way to monitor people's urine more frequently for less cost and (examine the possible effectiveness) of alternative treatments like cranberry juice (and would avoid) constantly having to (treat) these people with antibiotics," she stated.
| Health Topics | Drug Information | Dictionaries | Directories | Other Resources |
|
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894
Copyright and Privacy Policy, We welcome your comments. Last updated: 13 March 2001 |