Does Preoperative Urine Culture Affect Incidence of Postoperative Infection?

A retrospective VA study showed no association between performance of urine cultures before surgery and postoperative urinary tract infections or surgical-site infections.

Although national guidelines recommend against testing for, or treating, patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) before nonurologic surgery, preoperative urine cultures continue to be performed in many patients. This retrospective cohort study involved patients at several Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers who underwent elective noncardiac and nonurologic surgeries from 2017 through 2019. The authors assessed the effects of performing preoperative urine cultures in asymptomatic patients on rates of postoperative surgical-site infections (SSIs) and urinary tract infections (UTIs). Both machine learning and inverse probability of treatment weighting were used to create propensity scores to balance baseline characteristic…

Reviewing Author

Richard T. Ellison III, MD

Disclosures

Consult/Advisory BoardAcurx Pharmaceuticals, LLC;

Grant/Research SupportDoctors Company Foundation, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Richard T. Ellison III, MD

Disclosures

Consult/Advisory BoardAcurx Pharmaceuticals, LLC;

Grant/Research SupportDoctors Company Foundation, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Does Preoperative Urine Culture Affect Incidence of Postoperative Infection?

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Reviewing Author