Analytic epidemiology of clinical urinary tract infection in spinal cord injury.

The authors studied all patients (121) who were admitted to the National Paraplegic Center of Toledo, during a 6-month period, with spinal cord injuries (SCI). We obtained a clinical urinary tract infection predictive equation dependent on different risk factors (age, hospitalization time, level of SCI, sex, etc.). It is important to note that the main clinical-UTI risk factors were: (1) age, (2) hospitalization period, and (3) SCI category. We also achieved a mathematical model that we can use when the patient is admitted to this Center (in this case we do not include hospitalization time). This model enables us to predict clinical UTI depending on patient characteristics.