If a 30-year-old woman experiences painful burning when she urinates, it’s almost certain she has a urinary tract infection. But an elderly urinary tract infection rarely causes such clear symptoms and might not involve pain or discomfort at all. “As you get older your immune response changes; it’s part of normal aging,” says Anna Treinkman, a nurse practitioner at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago and president of the National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners. In fact, a sudden change in behavior is one of the best indicators of a urinary tract infection in older adults. Some common warning signs might include the onset of elderly urinary incontinence, confusion, or not being able to do tasks the patient could easily do a day or two before. “Anytime there’s a change in an older adult… if one day they’re able to dress themselves or feed themselves and then there’s a sudden change, a red flag should go up in a caregiver’s mind,” Treinkman says.
This article continues at Elderly Urinary Tract Infection