OBJECTIVETo compare the characteristics of urinary tract infection (UTI) between kidney transplant recipients and non-recipient patients.

METHODSForty-nine kidney transplant recipients with UTI (69 episodes) and 401 non-recipient patients with UTI (443 episodes) admitted in Nanfang Hospital from January 2003 to August 2014 were enrolled in the study. The characteristics of UTI were compared between two groups.

RESULTSIn both groups of UTI, female patients comprised a greater proportion (63.3% and 58.6%) and Escherichia coli was the most common pathogen isolated (37.7% and 34.1%). However, the infection rate of Klebsiella pneumonia in recipients was higher than that in non-recipients (11.6% vs 3.2%, P= 0.001), while the infection rate of Candida albicans was lower (1.5% vs 11.3%, P=0.008) than that in non-recipients. Recipients were likely to develop antibiotic resistance and with a higher recurrence rate than non-recipient patients (38.8% vs 16.7%, P<0.001). Compared to non-recipient UTI patients, the symptoms of urinary irritation in recipient UTI patients were more common. There was higher percentage of neutrophil granulocyte (72.65% ± 1.90% vs 68.59% ± 0.73%, P=0.048), lower proportion of lymphocytes (17.73% ± 1.27% vs 21.28% ± 0.61%, P=0.037), and less platelets [(187.64 ± 10.84) × 10(9)/L vs (240.76 ± 5.26) × 10(9)/L, P<0.01] in recipients than in non-recipient UTI patients.

CONCLUSIONThese results indicate that the characteristics of UTI in kidney transplantation recipients and non-recipients patients are different.