Association of dementia diagnosis with urinary tract infection in the emergency department.

Objectives: Overdiagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTI) among people living with dementia is a nationally recognized problem associated with morbidity from antibiotics as well as multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, whether this problem also exists in the emergency department (ED) is currently unknown.

Methods: To examine the association between dementia and UTI diagnosis in the ED we performed a retrospective analysis of Medicare beneficiaries older than 65 years old who presented to an ED in 2016.