Risk factors for urinary tract infection in patients with urolithiasis—primary report of a single center cohort

BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is very common in patients with urolithiasis, which makes the treatment of urolithiasis complicated, even dangerous. The objective of this study was to determine the risk factors for UTI in patients with urolithiasis. METHODS: Eight hundred six patients with urolithiasis were retrospectively evaluated in the fourth affiliated hospital of China Medical University. All patients admitted to the study were divided into either a UTI infection group or a non-infection group. Sex, age, smoking, stone shape, alcohol consumption, position of stones, and presence of obstruction were used as exposure factors for the cross-sectional study. RESULTS: One hundred seventy-eight patients (22.0%) had UTI. Through a urine culture test, gram-negative bacilli were the most common pathogen, followed by gram-positive bacilli and fungi. CONCLUSIONS: Sex, age, obstruction, stone shape, and multiple sites of stones could be considered the independent factors for UTI in patients with urolithiasis; smoking and drinking had no statistically significant correlation with the condition. Gram-negative bacilli are the most common pathogen in UTI in patients with urolithiasis.