Profile of Urinary Tract Infections in the Elderly in the Internal Medicine Department of the University Hospital Center of Point G, Bamako, Mali

Introduction: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are frequent and of polymorphous clinical symptomatology in elderly subjects both in and out of hospital. In Mali, to our knowledge, no study concerning UTIs in the elderly has been conducted, hence the interest in this innovative work. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and clinical and paraclinical aspects of urinary tract infections in the elderly. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective descriptive and cross-sectional study from September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2014, i.e. duration of 12 months. All patients aged 65 years and over, hospitalized or ambulatory in the internal medicine department with a documented urinary tract infection were included. Results: We collected and examined 194 patients. The cytobacteriological study of urine (CBSU) was positive in 28 patients, i.e. a prevalence of 14.43%. The male sex represented 59.8% of the cases, the sex ratio was equal to 1.46. The age groups between 65 - 69 and 70 - 74 years were the most affected, respectively 28.57% and 39.28%. The main clinical signs were: asthenia, anorexia, dependence, fever, urinary burning, dysuria. Hospitalization was associated with urinary tract infection with P = 0.01. The group of enterobacteria were incriminated in 75% of cases. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa represented 39.28%, 14.28% and 10.71% of cases. Urinary tract infections were represented by pyelonephritis, acute prostatitis, orchi-epididymitis and simple cystitis. Conclusion: Urinary tract infection is frequent in the elderly, its clinical presentation is polymorphic and enterobacteria are the most incriminated group of bacteria.