Variables associated with an inability to learn clean intermittent self-catheterization after urogynecologic surgery.

Introduction and hypothesisPost-operative urinary retention is a common problem affecting close to half of all women undergoing pelvic reconstructive surgery. This was an exploratory analysis that was aimed at identifying factors associated with an inability to learn clean intermittent self-catheterization (CISC) after a failed post-operative retrograde voiding trial (RGVT).MethodsWe performed a retrospective case-control study of women who underwent pelvic organ prolapse or urinary incontinence surgery within a single division from 2016 to 2018. We compared women who could learn CISC with those unable to learn and discharged home with an indwelling catheter (IC). Analyses were carried out using Fisher's exact test, the Mann-Whitney U test, the Chi-squared test, and the t test with logistic regression.ResultsOf the 202 women who failed their RGVT, 134 (66.3%) were able to learn CISC and 68 (33.7%) were not. Older age, urinary incontinence, diabetes and colpectomy/colpocleisis were associated with an inability to learn CISC (p ConclusionsIncreasing age was the only variable identified on multivariate logistic regression as a risk factor for failure to learn CISC. Further studies are needed to identify barriers to learning post-operative self-catheterization.