Design on Educational Handout on Urinary Tract Infections in The Elderly Essay

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are a form of bacterial attack explicitly affecting the parts of the body associated with urinating, commonly known as the urinary tract. It affects both the male and females at all ages, including babies and the old people. UTI makes people very uncomfortable because it comes with a measurable amount of pain and irritation. It is a disease that is very common, especially in women. This essay aims at analyzing UTI infections among the old age group. I selected this topic because it's a current issue in every community. Also, the audience group, the old people, are a neglected part of the society and hence I chose them as my audience.

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The older adults get termed as the people above the age of 65 years. Old age comes with its advantages, which include a weaker immune system, general body weakness and less energetic as opposed to the youth. UTI is among the diseases that hit the old people. Also, the chances of getting a UTI infection comes with age, which indicates that the old people are at a greater risk than any other age group. UTI has some common characteristics that include continuous irritation around the organs used for urination, headaches and increased urination frequency. UTI patients may also experience sharp pains when urinating due to open sores around the urinary tract. UTI patients usually note a white or creamy foul-smelling discharge. However, the elderly may show less of the listed signs when infected with UTI. For instance, an old person might behave in a very confused and abnormal manner, exhibit agitative behavior, have flushed skin, become less mobile and experience lack of appetite. It might be hard sometimes to know that an old person has UTI because of their character and unclear signs and symptoms (Soraas, Sundsfjord, Sandven, Brunborg, & Jenum, 2013).

At the old age, Urinary Tract Infections come about mostly due to bacteria. The most common UTI causing bacteria id Escherichia Coli, Enterococci and Staphylococci. The disease becomes very common for older people under catheter use or living under the care of a nursing home. The bacteria is commonly found and easily transmitted from one person to the other under old age-care facilities. Therefore, people taking care of the elderly must take extra caution especially in cleanliness and ensure health safety of the facilities that the old people access (Soraas et al., 2013).

Advanced UTI conditions in old age might result in very adverse effects like Urinary retention. Also known as neurogenic bladder, Urinary retention is the inability to partially or empty the bladder. A person might feel a great urge to urinate, but once they go to the toilet, they let out a few drops or fail to remove something at all. It is a big health complication for the elderly. Urinary retention mostly affects the older men, because they have the effect of prostate enlargement. When it gets to that stage, UTIs put the person in danger of geeing sick of something worse like diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. The effects of such diseases combined with UTI at such a critical age makes the life of the person almost unbearable (Mody & Juthani-Mehta, 2014).

In old women, the probability of attracting UTIs increases because they are past their childbearing age. Reaching menopause means that the body no longer produces estrogen. Therefore, the urinary tract experiences hormonal imbalance which is among the major causes of UTIs. Estrogen is a very crucial hormone that shields the vagina and urethra from over multiplication of E. coli bacteria that cause UTI. With decrease Estrogen, the bacteria find its way up the vagina and urethra, in large numbers which then triggers UTIs. Also, women have a shorter urethra than men, which gives way for bacteria to reach the bladder faster than in men (De Vecchi, Sitia, Romano, Ricci, Mattina, & Drago, 2013).

In old men, the most UTI contributing factors include prior bladder stone and kidney stones diseases, having an enlarged prostate, continuous use of catheters and bacterial prostatitis. These health issues surround the urinary tract and kidneys, which shows that as they weaken them, then the UTI causing micro-organisms get a way to enter and multiply within the men's urethra and kidneys. However, older men are at a lower risk of conducting UTIs as opposed to older women because they have a long urethra which creates a bigger distance before the bacteria can reach the kidneys (Mody & Juthani-Mehta, 2014).

Diagnosis of UTI's among the old people is challenging because of the strange symptoms of confusion. People might mistake the confusion with some usual effects of entering the old age while the UTIs eat away their urinary tract, leaving so much damage. Sometimes, the disease gets diagnosed too late after other diseases like diabetes show up. However, once a person suspects that their old people have a UTI, its confirmation is easily done in the hospital laboratories, through a simple urinalysis test. If seen early enough, doctors can always identify the exact disease-causing bacteria, and the most effective way for its treatment (De Vecchi et al., 2013).

Conclusion

In conclusion, UTIs affect a significant number of the elderly in the society. It is good to treat them with extra care and cleanliness, frequently conducting hospital check-ups for them, especially when some new behavior or symptoms show up in the old.

References

De Vecchi, E., Sitia, S., Romano, C. L., Ricci, C., Mattina, R., & Drago, L. (2013). Etiology and antibiotic resistance patterns of urinary tract infections in the elderly: a 6-month study. Journal of medical microbiology, 62(6), 859-863.

Mody, L., & Juthani-Mehta, M. (2014). Urinary tract infections in older women: a clinical review. Jama, 311(8), 844-854.

Soraas, A., Sundsfjord, A., Sandven, I., Brunborg, C., & Jenum, P. A. (2013). Risk factors for community-acquired urinary tract infections caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae-a case-control study in a low prevalence country. PloS one, 8(7), e69581.