scholarly journals Pitfalls in diagnosis and management of suspected urinary tract infection in an urban tropical primary care setting

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 219-226
Author(s):  
Alison A Jackson ◽  
Pauline Siew Mei Lai ◽  
Aqtab Mazhar Alias ◽  
Nadia Atiya ◽  
Siti Nurkamilla Ramdzan ◽  
...  

Introduction: Diagnosis and management of urinary tract infection (UTI) are complex, and do not always follow guidelines. The aim of this study was to determine adherence to the 2014 Malaysian Ministry of Health guidelines for managing suspected UTI in a Malaysian primary care setting. Methodology: We retrospectively reviewed computerized medical records of adults with suspected UTI between July-December 2016. Excluded were consultations misclassified by the search engine, duplicated records of the same patient, consultations for follow-up of suspected UTI, patients who were pregnant, catheterised, or who had a renal transplant. Records were reviewed by two primary care physicians and a clinical microbiologist. Results: From 852 records, 366 consultations were a fresh episode of possible UTI. Most subjects were female (78.2%) with median age of 61.5 years. The major co-morbidities were hypertension (37.1%), prostatic enlargement in males (35.5%) and impaired renal function (31.1%). Symptoms were reported in 349 (95.4%) consultations. Antibiotics were prescribed in 307 (83.9%) consultations, which was appropriate in 227/307 (73.9%), where the subject had at least one symptom, and leucocytes were raised in urine full examination and microscopic examination (UFEME). In 73 (23.8%) consultations antibiotics were prescribed inappropriately, as the subjects were asymptomatic (14,4.6%), urine was clear (17,5.5%), or UFEME did not show raised leucocytes (42,13.7%). In 7 (2.3%) consultations appropriateness of antibiotics could not be determined as UFEME was not available. Conclusion: Several pitfalls contributed to suboptimal adherence to guidelines for diagnosis and management of suspected UTI. This illustrates the complexity of managing suspected UTI in older subjects with multiple co-morbidities.

1996 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ikahelmo ◽  
A. Siitonen ◽  
T. Heiskanen ◽  
U. Karkkainen ◽  
P. Kuosmanen ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 793-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
A G Deakin ◽  
G R Jones ◽  
J W Spencer ◽  
E J Bongard ◽  
M Gal ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (51) ◽  
pp. 1-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair D Hay ◽  
Kate Birnie ◽  
John Busby ◽  
Brendan Delaney ◽  
Harriet Downing ◽  
...  

BackgroundIt is not clear which young children presenting acutely unwell to primary care should be investigated for urinary tract infection (UTI) and whether or not dipstick testing should be used to inform antibiotic treatment.ObjectivesTo develop algorithms to accurately identify pre-school children in whom urine should be obtained; assess whether or not dipstick urinalysis provides additional diagnostic information; and model algorithm cost-effectiveness.DesignMulticentre, prospective diagnostic cohort study.Setting and participantsChildren < 5 years old presenting to primary care with an acute illness and/or new urinary symptoms.MethodsOne hundred and seven clinical characteristics (index tests) were recorded from the child’s past medical history, symptoms, physical examination signs and urine dipstick test. Prior to dipstick results clinician opinion of UTI likelihood (‘clinical diagnosis’) and urine sampling and treatment intentions (‘clinical judgement’) were recorded. All index tests were measured blind to the reference standard, defined as a pure or predominant uropathogen cultured at ≥ 105colony-forming units (CFU)/ml in a single research laboratory. Urine was collected by clean catch (preferred) or nappy pad. Index tests were sequentially evaluated in two groups, stratified by urine collection method: parent-reported symptoms with clinician-reported signs, and urine dipstick results. Diagnostic accuracy was quantified using area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) with 95% confidence interval (CI) and bootstrap-validated AUROC, and compared with the ‘clinician diagnosis’ AUROC. Decision-analytic models were used to identify optimal urine sampling strategy compared with ‘clinical judgement’.ResultsA total of 7163 children were recruited, of whom 50% were female and 49% were < 2 years old. Culture results were available for 5017 (70%); 2740 children provided clean-catch samples, 94% of whom were ≥ 2 years old, with 2.2% meeting the UTI definition. Among these, ‘clinical diagnosis’ correctly identified 46.6% of positive cultures, with 94.7% specificity and an AUROC of 0.77 (95% CI 0.71 to 0.83). Four symptoms, three signs and three dipstick results were independently associated with UTI with an AUROC (95% CI; bootstrap-validated AUROC) of 0.89 (0.85 to 0.95; validated 0.88) for symptoms and signs, increasing to 0.93 (0.90 to 0.97; validated 0.90) with dipstick results. Nappy pad samples were provided from the other 2277 children, of whom 82% were < 2 years old and 1.3% met the UTI definition. ‘Clinical diagnosis’ correctly identified 13.3% positive cultures, with 98.5% specificity and an AUROC of 0.63 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.72). Four symptoms and two dipstick results were independently associated with UTI, with an AUROC of 0.81 (0.72 to 0.90; validated 0.78) for symptoms, increasing to 0.87 (0.80 to 0.94; validated 0.82) with the dipstick findings. A high specificity threshold for the clean-catch model was more accurate and less costly than, and as effective as, clinical judgement. The additional diagnostic utility of dipstick testing was offset by its costs. The cost-effectiveness of the nappy pad model was not clear-cut.ConclusionsClinicians should prioritise the use of clean-catch sampling as symptoms and signs can cost-effectively improve the identification of UTI in young children where clean catch is possible. Dipstick testing can improve targeting of antibiotic treatment, but at a higher cost than waiting for a laboratory result. Future research is needed to distinguish pathogens from contaminants, assess the impact of the clean-catch algorithm on patient outcomes, and the cost-effectiveness of presumptive versus dipstick versus laboratory-guided antibiotic treatment.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.


2006 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 801-808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas S. Faust ◽  
Douglas Walker ◽  
Mark Sands

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