Identifying the Relation between Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections and the National Distribution of Urologists and Urology Residencies

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are associated with urinary catheterization. Up to 25% of hospitalized patients may be catheterized during their stay. Urethral catheters are necessary as part of many urologic procedures, but the removal of unnecessary catheters has become more important to reduce infections, healthcare costs, and patient morbidity. Methods: Open access data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States Census, and the American Urological Association (AUA) Census was obtained, and a linear correlation used to determine relations. Results: A correlation between the number of urologists per hospital and CAUTIs per hospital was found in both the wards and intensive care units (ICU; p < 0.01). A similar relation was found between the number of urology residencies per hospital and CAUTIs per hospital in the wards (p < 0.01), but this was not significant in the ICU (p = 0.15). The number of urology residencies per state was correlated with the number of urologists per state (p < 0.01). No correlation between state population density and hospital number of CAUTIs, urologists, and urology residencies was found. Conclusions: Increased number of urologic procedures and the need for catheterizations likely drives the correlation with urologists and CAUTIs. Despite this, no urologists are on the CDC committee that created CAUTI guidelines. Urologists should be considered for hospital and national committees particularly because they often care for these patients in the outpatient setting.