IT’s is one of the most common misfortunes in American medicine, usually like this: the old and weak person feels confused, tired, or slightly dizzy. You may not feel the desire to eat. Or stumble.
These are the classic aging syndromes that usually receive a classic medical response: the largest urination is required in a test for the test. The pioneering suspect is urinary tract infection.
Often, he is the wrong suspect.
the Urinary tract infection (UTI), Bogman has become the medical who will not disappear, and it is a hypothetical diagnosis but it is often not correct. As a doctor in a profession, I do not enjoy contact with colleagues, but health professionals need to spend less time in people to urinate in a cup and more time to find out the real reasons for the problem.
UTIS is one of the most common health problems in the world. more than 400 million cases It is diagnosed worldwide every year. In the United States, urinary tract infection is responsible for 10.5 million Office visits and 3 million remedies in the hospital’s emergency department annually. more than Half of all women In their lives it will be diagnosed with urinary tract infection at least one. The frequency of the diagnosis of urinary tract infection increases dramatically with the age of 65 years.
At the same time, many studies around the world have confirmed the excessive diagnosis of UTIS, including Three of four patients In the study of 43 hospitals in 2020; 28 % Of all cases in 46 hospitals in Michigan and even 85 % Among the patients who were diagnosed in California in two separate studies published in 2022.
The problem of the wrong diagnosis of urinary tract inflammation is that we put people, especially people with advanced age, on antibiotics they do not need. This increases the risk of three bad results: unjustified bowel infections from the use of unnecessary antibiotic. Increased antibiotic resistance that makes it difficult to treat actual infections. It overlooks the serious root causes of aging and failure in them.
Read more: 7 things every woman should know about the urinary tract infection
Why do medical professionals often mistake? One of the biggest reasons, I am convinced, is the lack of aging training. The era of advanced children means that America is older than ever, but somehow the number of aging doctors approved by the Board of Directors 25 % decreased During the past two decades. Few health professionals are experts about what to search for in our senior residents.
Most doctors in family or internal medicine do not even receive training in unique challenges to treat the elderly. Only 10 % of medical colleges need to rotate in aging care, compared to 96 % that requires rotation in child care, according to 2024 John A. Hartford Study the workforce of American health care. Many doctors do not know where the pitfalls are when working with the elderly. In fact, a 2022 internet poll from 1700 doctors and nurses in New Hampshire found that they were incorrectly diagnosed with urinary tract infection 34 % From time.
There are technical medical reasons for the wrong diagnosis as well. It is rare for the older person to be weak to be able to urinate in a cup in a sterile manner. To collect urine sample free of pollution, you should clean the labia and the urethra. You have to apply the cup without touching any skin. Start and stop urinating; Then put a sterile cover on the sample. It is not easy to do for a 30 -year -old nurse, but it may be impossible for an 80 -year -old who has problems with transportation and who wears adult diapers. In my professional experience, I say that most of these urine samples are contaminated and thus resulted in unreliable results.
Another complex factor is that many elderly people have complex conditions and are colonized with bacteria in the bladder in a natural way for them. This is called “bacteria without symptoms.” And people with urinary catheter have this 100 % of the time. Most people with bacteria without symptoms will not develop an infection infection, but many of them are treated anyway with antibiotics, a case of “treatment” worse than the “condition”.
The result is that many urine samples are either contaminated or experienced positive for reasons other than urinary tract.
Let’s be clear: there is no doubt that there is a legal sympathetic infection, and that the elderly are at risk of fatal complications that are likely to be called poisoning. No one wants to miss it. But medical professionals and care providers should avoid jumping to conclusions and assuming that UTI is the default diagnosis. Taking a good medical history, paying attention to vital signs, conducting the examination, requesting related blood work, considering other possible causes of symptoms, and closely monitoring follow -up are good ways to avoid serious infections.
It is easy to ask for a urine test – but this does not mean that it always must be done.
