Women with Obesity Are More Likely to Have Long-Term Indwelling Bladder Catheterization in U.S. Nursing Homes

Authors

John Harris (0000-0002-7907-8139), University of Pittsburgh
Mary Ackenbom (0000-0003-1568-9915), University of Pittsburgh
Alison Trinkoff (0000-0002-9357-6732), University of Maryland - Baltimore
Steven Handler (0000-0002-3940-3224), University of Pittsburgh
John Engberg, RAND Corporation
David G. Wolf (0000-0001-6698-2877), Bellarmine UniversityFollow
Nicholas Castle, West Virginia University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.3205

Abstract

Reducing indwelling catheters and increasing clean intermittent catheterization is a key element of effective infection control and maintaining functional independence in nursing homes. Nursing care is often more difficult as obesity increases, leading to more nursing care or equipment to provide care. We hypothesized that nursing homes are more likely to use indwelling catheters for people with obesity because indwelling catheterization likely eases the nursing burden of toileting and personal hygiene care for residents with obesity. The study design was a retrospective cohort study of U.S. nursing home female residents in Minimum Data Set in 2013. Obesity and normal weight (the reference group) were categorized using National Institutes of Health criteria. Indwelling and intermittent bladder catheterization was defined during periodic assessment of residents. We modeled the outcomes using logistic regression using a robust variance estimator. Model covariates included obesity category, resident age, dementia status, comatose status, Stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers, and the number of activities of daily living deficits. The study cohort included 1,068,388 female residents in 15,230 nursing homes. Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) prevalence was 31.9%. The prevalence of indwelling catheterization was 5.2% and of intermittent catheterization was 0.4%. The odds ratio of indwelling catheter use for obese residents varied from 1.05 to 1.74 (all with p-values

Publication

Innovation in Aging

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Volume

5

Issue

Supplement 1

Pages

880

Department

College of Business and Management

Comments

This article was published before Dr. David Wolf joined Lynn University.

Recommended Citation

Harris, J., Ackenbom, M., Trinkoff, A., Handler, S., Engberg, J., Wolf, D. G., & Castle, N. (2021). Women with obesity are more likely to have long-term indwelling bladder catheterization in U.S. nursing homes. Innovation in Aging, 5(S1), 880. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.3205