Diagnostic accuracy of urine dipstick in detection of patients of UTI keeping urine culture as a gold standard.

For children below age of five urinary tract infection (UTI) is the foremost common sources of infection. To lessen the danger of renal scarring it is critical to have immediate diagnosis and treatment. Quick, cost-effective, methods for the analysis of UTI are needed as substitute to culture. Objectives: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of urine dipstick in detection of UTI in children keeping urine culture as a gold standard. Study Design: Cross sectional validation study. Setting: Outpatient Department, Madinah Teaching Hospital, Faisalabad. Period: 01-2018 to 07-2018. Material & Methods: After taking permission from the hospital ethical committee all female patients with urinary tract infection were included. A rapid dipstick analysis for leukocyte esterase and nitrite was done by a staff nurse using Meditest Combi 10 SGL. The reaction of dipstick strip was read visually by a trained nurse who has five year experience working in the Outpatient Department, Madinah Teaching Hospital, Faisalabad. All dipstick positive and dipstick negative samples underwent cultures by sending samples in a clean container to the pathology lab via a sanitary attendant within one hour of the urine collection. Results: In our study, 69.21%(n=281) were between 2 months to 3 years of age while 30.79%(n=125) were between 4-5 years of age, mean+sd was calculated as 2.63+1.36 years, frequency of UTI in children on urine culture as a gold standard was recorded in 20.69%(n=84), the diagnostic accuracy of urine dipstick in detection of UTI in children keeping urine culture as a gold standard was recorded as 80.95%, 62.42%, 35.98%, 92.63% and 66.26% for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy rate. Conclusion: We conclude that the diagnostic accuracy of urine dipstick in detection of UTI in children keeping urine culture as a gold standard is higher and this cost effective and easy technique may be used in our routine practice for prediction of UTI in children.