OBJECTIVE To explore the association of postoperative urinary tract infections with peripheral blood intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) gene polymorphisms in the patients with menopausal stress urinary incontinence.

METHODS A total of 132 patients with menopausal stress urinary incontinence who received mid-urethral suspension surgery in the Third People′s Hospital Affiliated to Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from Sep. 2020 to Sep. 2023 were recruited as the research subjects and were divided into the infection group with 25 cases and the non-infection group with 107 cases according to the status of postoperative urinary tract infections. The distribution of pathogens isolated from the infection group was statistically analyzed. The peripheral blood ICAM-1 gene polymorphisms and the levels of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (sTREM-1), high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were observed and compared between the two groups. The values of the three markers in diagnosis of the postoperative urinary tract infections in the patients with menopausal stress urinary incontinence were analyzed.

RESULTS Totally 34 strains of pathogens were isolated from the 25 patients of the infection group, 21 (61.76%) of which were gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (11 strains, 32.35%) was the predominant species of the gram-negative bacteria. The frequencies of KK genotype at K469E locus of ICAM-1 gene and K allele of the infection group were higher than those of the non-infection group, while the frequencies of EE genotype and E allele of the infection group were lower than those of the non-infection group (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in the levels of serum sTREM-1, HMGB1 and MCP-1 between the infection group and the non-infection group (P < 0.05); the MCP-1 level of the infection group was (63.68±20.63)pg/ml, higher than that of the non-infection group (t=6.472, P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) value of the single detection of the three markers was lower in diagnosis of the postoperative urinary tract infections in the patients with menopausal stress urinary incontinence than that of the joint detection of the three markers (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS The gram-negative bacteria are dominant among the pathogens isolated from the menopausal stress urinary incontinence patients with postoperative urinary tract infections. The patients show the increased expressions of sTREM-1, HMGB1 and MCP-1; the joint detection of the three markers has more advantages in auxiliary diagnosis of the postoperative urinary tract infections. The susceptibility to the postoperative urinary tract infections is associated with the ICAM-1 gene polymorphisms.