We conducted a cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire to investigate the current status of urinary tract infections (UTIs) and the use of clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) in Chinese community-based SCI patients and to explore the risk factors for UTIs in patients using CIC. Our findings suggest that the prevalence of UTIS is higher in Chinese community-based SCI patients compared with patients in medically developed countries. In addition, we found that CIC had the lower incidence of UTIs than urinary indwelling catheter (UIC) and suprapubic catheter (SPC), and that SCI patients with CIC had low rates of use and poor compliance. Further analysis indicated that most of the risk factors for UTIs in CIC patients were associated with irregular use of CIC. Therefore, we call for not only the need to provide stronger caregiver support and financial assistance to improve CIC adherence in Chinese community SCI patients, but also the establishment of a database of Chinese SCI patients in order to enhance the management of bladder emptying methods and further standardize the CIC operation in such patients, thus reducing the risk of UTIs in Chinese community SCI patients.© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.