OBJECTIVE To investigate the diagnostic value of urinary signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and heparin-binding protein (HBP) for urinary tract infection (UTI) in patients in nephrology department, as well as the distribution and drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria, to provide references for early prevention and treatment of UTI in patients in nephrology department.

METHODS Totally 109 patients with nephropathy combined with UTI admitted to Shanxi Provincial People′s Hospital from Jan. 2021 to Oct. 2023 were selected as the infected group, and another 120 patients with nephropathy without UTI admitted during the same period were as the uninfected group. The distribution of pathogenic bacteria and drug resistance were analyzed, the clinical data and levels of urine STAT3, MCP-1, HBP of the two groups were compared, the infected group was included as positive and the uninfected group as negative, and the diagnostic value of urinary STAT3, MCP-1, HBP and combination were analyzed by the subject′s work characteristic curve (ROC).

RESULTS Totally 116 strains of bacteria were detected in the infected group and the most frequent were gram-negative bacteria with 75 strains (64.66%); among them, the most frequently strains were Escherichia coli (31 strains), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23 strains), which both showed high resistance to amitrazam >50.00%, complete susceptibility to imipenem and low resistance to the rest of the antimicrobial drugs. Age level, combined diabetes, proportion with urinary tract obstruction and urinary STAT3, MCP-1, HBP levels (58.23±7.76) years, 46.79%, 42.20% and (65.23±21.12) ng/ml, (798.54±226.55) μg/L, (131.67±32.34) ng/ml, respectively were higher in the infected group than those in the uninfected group (52.14±4.84) years, 27.50%, 20.83% and (36.42±10.65) ng/ml, (491.22±151.20) μg/L, (94.58±28.71) ng/ml, respectively (P < 0.05), and the length of hospitalization (15.12±1.53) d in the infected group was longer than that in the uninfected group (13.08±1.10) d (P < 0.05). ROC characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) values of the combination of urinary STAT3, MCP-1 and HBP and for the diagnosis of UTI in patients with nephropathy was 0.931, which was higher than that of the three single indexes (0.813, 0.854, and 0.818, respectively, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS Gram-negative bacteria are the main pathogen for UTI in patients in nephrology department and their drug-resistant characteristics vary. Urinary STAT3, MCP-1 and HBP elevate in patients with UTI in nephrology department and their combination can raise the diagnostic value.