Baseline characteristics of residents and long-term care homes (LTCHs)
| Characteristics | Matched intervention LTCHs (n=43) | Matched control LTCHs (n=127) | Standardised differences* |
| Bed size†, mean (SD) | 128.3 (70.8) | 136.2 (76.8) | −0.11 |
| Region | |||
| Urban (%) | 33 (77) | 106 (84) | −0.17 |
| Rural (%) | 10 (23) | 21 (17) | |
| Mean rate at baseline per 1000 resident days | |||
| Urine culturing† (IQR) | 4.0 (2.5–5.5) | 3.4 (2.2–4.9) | 0.15 |
| Total antibiotic prescriptions† (IQR) | 4.2 (3.7–5.1) | 4.4 (3.5–5.2) | 0.05 |
| Urinary antibiotic prescriptions (IQR) | 1.5 (1.2–2.0) | 1.4 (1.1–1.8) | 0.08 |
| Hospital admissions (IQR) | 1.7 (1.4–2.3) | 2.0 (1.6–2.5) | −0.40 |
| No. unique residents | 7960 | 24 827 | |
| Mean resident age (SD) | 85.17 (8.1) | 84.79 (8) | 0.05 |
| Female proportion (%) | 5515 (69) | 17 023 (69) | 0.02 |
| Comorbidities, n (%): | |||
| Residents with severe cognitive impairment‡ | 2857 (36) | 8818 (36) | 0.01 |
| Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease | 5423 (68) | 16 713 (67) | 0.02 |
| Paralysis | 14 (0.2) | 110 (0.4) | −0.05 |
| Parkinson’s disease | 550 (7) | 1649 (7) | 0.01 |
| Obstructive lung disease | 1510 (19) | 4475 (18) | 0.02 |
| Cancer | 768 (10) | 2812 (11) | −0.06 |
| Gastrointestinal disease | 2546 (32) | 7055 (28) | 0.08 |
| Liver disease | 94 (1) | 365 (2) | −0.03 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 2229 (28) | 7173 (29) | −0.02 |
| Renal disease | 775 (10) | 2815 (11) | −0.05 |
| Atherosclerotic heart disease | 1367 (17) | 4172 (17) | 0.01 |
| Congestive heart failure | 1156 (15) | 3210 (13) | 0.05 |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 555 (7) | 1521 (6) | 0.03 |
| Stroke | 2055 (26) | 6392 (26) | 0.002 |
| Functional status, n (%) | |||
| Bladder incontinence | 7337 (92) | 22 412 (90) | 0.07 |
| Bowel incontinence | 6371 (80) | 19 513 (79) | 0.04 |
| Devices, n (%) | |||
| Indwelling catheter | 582 (7) | 1526 (6) | 0.05 |
| Other urinary catheter | 40 (0.5) | 212 (0.9) | −0.04 |
| Feeding tube | 56 (0.7) | 241 (1.0) | −0.03 |
*A threshold of ≤0.1 is recommended to consider differences between groups.
†Variables used to match intervention to control LTCHs.
‡Cognitive Performance Scale ≥4.