Profiles of the bacterial community in short-term indwelling urinary catheters by duration of catheterization and subsequent urinary tract infection.

•We characterized the extraluminal microbial communities found on 127 urinary catheters placed for <3 days in women undergoing elective gynecological surgery.•Enterococcus, Streptococcus, and Staphylococcus were the most commonly identified genera in the taxonomic screen but were not associated with urinary tract infection during follow-up.•There was no association between detection of Escherichia coli on the catheter surface using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and subsequent development of urinary tract infection.