Objective. To identify risk factors of urinary tract infection in patients with bladder catheterization in patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit. Design. Case and controls study. Location. Adult ICU of a non-university clinic (Clinica Comfandi-Tequendama, Cali, Colombia). Methods. We used the registry of the Committee on Epidemiologic Surveillance for the identification of patients in the ICU that had a bladder catheter as part of their management and who developed a urinary tract infection. From the same registry we selected at random three controls for each case, patients also in the ICU that had bladder catheters but had not developed a urinary tract infection. Measurements and results. We analyzed 132 patients, 33 cases and 99 controls, recording demographic data, patients characteristics, and variables in the management of the catheter. Distribution by gender and severity of systemic compromise, determined by APACHE II in the first 24 hours, were equal in both groups. Age >70 years, placement of the catheter before admission to the ICU, length of catheterization for more than two weeks, concomitant peritonitis and management by the open abdomen method, were all associated with greater risk of infection of the urinary tract. Sex, APACHE II score, coexistence of structural pathology of the urinary tract, measurement of intravesical pressure, coexitance of infections different from peritonitis, and the previous administration of antibiotics did not appear to augment risk.