Urinary-Tract Infections in the Elderly

THE study of elderly institutionalized men reported by Nicolle and colleagues in this issue1 confirms the high frequency with which urinary-tract infections are acquired in this patient population and illustrates the ineffectiveness of discrete courses of antibiotics in maintaining sterility of the urine in such patients.The increasing prevalence of urinary-tract infections with advancing age is well established.2 The rate is about 1 per cent in randomly selected ambulatory young women and rises to about 20 per cent at age 70. Infections are rarely seen in men under 50 and occur in about 4 per cent at age 70. With . . .