Abstract
Aims: Female patients experience difficulty to handle a catheter during clean intermittent self-catheterization （CISC）. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a hydrophilic-coated compact catheter （HC） in preventing symptomatic urinary tract infections （UTIs） and improving Quality of Life （QOL） related with CISC, comparing with an uncoated regular catheter （UC） in females on CISC.
Methods: A prospective multicenter randomized parallel comparative trial of HC versus UC included 36 female patients over 6 months. Primary outcomes were the incidence of antibiotic-treated symptomatic UTIs and definite symptomatic UTIs defined as the antibiotic-treated symptomatic UTIs plus bacteriuria > 102 CFU/mL. Secondary outcomes were QOL evaluated by the Intermitted Self-catheterization Questionnaire （ISC-Q） and Qualiveen®, and overall comments for CISC.
Results: Of the 36 participants enrolled, 29 completed the study. The incidence of antibiotic-treated symptomatic UTIs （2/16, 12.5%） in the HC group is lower than those （5/13, 38.5%） in the UC group, but the statistical difference was not significant. No one developed the definite symptomatic UTI in either group. The scores of the three subscales of the ISC-Q, including “ease of use”, “convenience” and “well-being”, and all four subscales of Qualiveen® were significantly better in the HC group, compared to the UC group in terms of statistical analysis. Patient’s impressions on the safety of catheterization and satisfaction for the catheter used were statistically better in the HC group.
Conclusions: Although effectiveness in reducing the risk of symptomatic UTIs was not proven, a hydrophiliccoated compact catheter can improve QOL related with CISC in females on CISC.
