INTRODUCTION
The number of people aged 65 years and older is increasing globally.
With aging, the incidence of chronic disease and malignancy rises, and
decline in physiologic and immune functions increases susceptibility to
infections (1). Healthcare-associated bacterial infections in old age
are particularly alarming because patients over 65 are more frequently
hospitalized and subjected to invasive procedures.
There has been a significant increase in infections caused by resistant
gram-negative microorganisms. The lack of new drugs effective in the
treatment of resistant infections has led to the reintroduction of
colistin (COL), which was largely abandoned in clinical practice due to
its nephrotoxic and neurotoxic adverse effects (2-4). Being treated in
intensive care units (ICUs) and older age are factors that increase the
frequency of infections caused by resistant microorganisms and
complicate the management of the antimicrobial agents used. Some studies
have shown that COL nephrotoxicity increases with age, while no
relationship between age and COL-related renal toxicity was detected in
others (5-9). The present study aimed to identify risk factors
associated with COL nephrotoxicity in the general population and
geriatric patients hospitalized in the ICUs of our hospital.