Isolation Rate and Clinical Significance of Uropathogens in Positive Urine Cultures of Hemodialysis Patients

BACKGROUND: Hemodialysis (HD) patients are known to be vulnerable to infections. However, there are limited data on the urine microbiology spectrum among patients with end-stage renal disease and on the development of antimicrobial resistance of uropathogens in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A single-center, retrospective study was conducted to assess the spectrum and antimicrobial resistance profile of microorganisms isolated in urine cultures of HD patients who were hospitalized between September 2008 and August 2015 with an admitting diagnosis of fever, sepsis, or urinary tract infection. Characteristics of patients were recorded, and associations between the aforementioned parameters were assessed with Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: We included 75 HD patients (33 males, mean age 73.6 ± 16.6 years) with positive urine cultures. Despite urine culture positivity, the urinary tract was the confirmed source of infection in only 31 (41.3%) patients. Among the different pathogens, Escherichia coli was the predominant microorganism. Identification of E. coli as the involved uropathogen was associated neither with a growth of ≥10(5) CFU/ml, presence of fever, sepsis, urinary catheter use nor with higher antimicrobial resistance. E. coli growth, however, was significantly associated with polycystic kidney disease (P = 0.027). Extended antimicrobial resistance was noted in 29 (38.7%) patients but was associated neither with higher incidence of fever or sepsis nor with urinary catheter use. CONCLUSIONS: In our series of HD patients with positive urine cultures, the isolation rates of different uropathogens do not seem to differ from the most commonly encountered ones in nondialysis patients although resistance to antimicrobials may be more frequently observed.