The risk of urinary tract infection in bowel incontinent men.

Immobility, confusion, and incontinence are considered the primary reasons for institutionalization of the elderly. The literature suggests that incontinence has the greatest medical, psychological, social, and economic effects on the patient and caregivers. The magnitude of the relationship of UTI and bowel incontinence is illustrated by the results of this study. Bowel incontinent patients developed UTIs almost three times as frequently as their bowel continent counterparts. The majority of the isolates found in urine cultures of the sample population are normally present in the gastrointestinal tract. Health-care providers need to be consistently aware of the possibilities of contamination and deal with the patients accordingly. Patients should be examined frequently for bowel incontinence and not allowed to sit or lie in feces for long periods.