Urinary tract infection among cancer patients in Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

The immunocompromised nature of cancer patients increases their risk of opportunistic infections. This study aims to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic UTI among cancer and apparently healthy subjects as well as the aetiologic agents. Clean-catch mid-stream urine were collected from 350 subjects consisting of 150 cancer patients (65 males and 85 females) and 200 apparently healthy individuals (70 males and 130 females) which served as controls. Significant microbial isolates were identified in the urine samples using standard techniques. Cancer patients (80%) had a significantly (P < 0.0001) higher prevalence of asymptomatic UTI compared with controls (25%). Cancer status was a risk factor for asymptomatic UTI (OR = 6.40 95% CI = 3.752, 10.916). Only female controls (23.1%) had significantly (P = 0.0105) higher prevalence of asymptomatic UTI than their male counterparts (14.3%). Staphylococcus aureus was the most prevalent uropathogen (25.49%) as well as in both genders of cancer and control subjects. A prevalence of 80% of asymptomatic UTI was observed among cancer patients with a 4 – 11 fold increase risk. Staphylococcus aureus was the predominant pathogen in both genders of cancer and control subjects.