Published online February 1, 2007
PEDIATRICS Vol. 119 No. 2 February 2007, pp. e325-e329 (doi:10.1542/10.1542/peds.2006-1134)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Oreskovic, N. M.
Right arrow Articles by Sembrano, E. U.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Oreskovic, N. M.
Right arrow Articles by Sembrano, E. U.
Related Collections
Right arrow Infectious Disease & Immunity
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Repeat Urine Cultures in Children Who Are Admitted With Urinary Tract Infections

Nicolas M. Oreskovic, MDa,b and Eduardo U. Sembrano, MDb

a Departments of Internal Medicine
b Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York

OBJECTIVE. Urinary tract infections are a common cause of hospitalization in the pediatric population. Hospitalization for urinary tract infections in children usually involves intravenous antibiotics, invasive methods of obtaining sterile urine specimens, and imaging studies to assess the anatomy of the urinary system. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of positive repeat urine cultures that are obtained after 2 days of antibiotics among pediatric inpatients who are admitted with diagnosed or suspected infections of the urinary tract.

METHODS. A retrospective survey was conducted of all pediatric patients (≤18 years of age) who were admitted to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York, with a suspected or diagnosed urinary infection from December 1998 through December 2004. Results of repeat urine cultures that were obtained after 2 days of antibiotics were abstracted from a computerized medical charts database. Nominal data analysis was used to establish the frequency of positive repeat urine cultures.

RESULTS. A total of 328 (54.8%) of 599 eligible admissions met inclusion criteria. Of these 328 admissions, only 1 (0.3%) repeat urine culture was positive after 2 days of antimicrobial therapy.

CONCLUSIONS. Positive repeat urine cultures after 2 days of antibiotics are exceedingly rare. Elimination of mandatory "proof-of-bacteriologic-cure" benchmarks before hospital discharge is supported by this study.

Key Words: pediatrics • urinary tract infections • practice guideline

Abbreviations: UTI—urinary tract infection • AAP—American Academy of Pediatrics • CFU—colony-forming unit(s)

Accepted Sep 14, 2006.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?