Bacteriologic surveillance of indwelling urinary catheters in pediatric intensive care unit patients.

Daily cultures were obtained from the proximal tubing port on 108 indwelling urinary catheters in 100 pediatric ICU (PICU) patients aged 1 month to 17 yr to establish the risk of acquiring bacteriuria. Group 1 patients (58 catheters) were catheterized in the PICU and group 2 patients (50 catheters) were catheterized in the operating room. Group 1 patients had a significantly (p less than .03) greater risk of bacteriuria than group 2 during the early days of surveillance, but the final cumulative risk in both groups was similar (27% in group 1 and 37% in group 2). Combined, the overall cumulative risk was 29.1%. The risk of acquiring a urinary tract infection was not related to sex or prior antibiotic use. There was a significantly greater risk (p less than .025) in children under 1 yr of age.