The postoperative bacteriuria score: a new way to predict nosocomial infection after prostate surgery.

OBJECTIVE: Urinary tract infections are the leading nosocomial urologic infections and may be a cause of added morbidity and costs, and sometimes sepsis. The aim of this study was to design a predictive score for these complications after prostate surgery. DESIGN: Multicenter prospective survey. SETTING: Eleven French urology centers. PATIENTS: All patients undergoing transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) during a 3-month period. RESULTS: The overall incidence of postoperative bacteriuria was 25.0% (95% confidence interval, 17.7%-29.5%). Almost all patients (95.7%) received antibiotic prophylaxis. A predictive postoperative bacteriuria score (POBS), with a 6-point scale of 0 to 5, was constructed on the basis of independent risk factors identified in multivariate analysis of a test sample of patients (n=135) and tested in a validation sample (n=73). Significantly more infections occurred in patients with a POBS of 2 or higher (87 8%] vs 48 50%]; P<.0001). With the test sample, this yielded a sensitivity of 77%, a specificity of 77%, a positive predictive value of 50%, a negative predictive value of 92%, and a global accuracy of 77%. CONCLUSIONS: POBS could be used to distinguish patients at risk of developing infection after TURP. This information might be useful for implementing selective prevention measures or for adjustment for differences in nosocomial infection rates when comparing data between urology centers.