Fifty-seven percent of patients who received a urinary catheter while hospitalized said the catheter resulted in at least one complication, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found.
The researchers gathered data from more than 2,000 patients who received catheters at one of four hospitals across two states. The study was conducted from August 26, 2015, to August 18, 2017.
The researchers evaluated patient charts and contacted patients two weeks and a month after they had their catheters removed to discuss complications linked to the catheter and how catheterization affected their daily activities.
The study revealed noninfectious complications (55 percent) were five times as common as infectious complications (11 percent).
Women in the study were more likely to report infectious complications, while men reported a higher frequency of noninfectious complications.
The study authors suggest patient safety efforts should focus on decreasing noninfectious harms from urinary catheters.