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Optimal bacterial colony counts for the diagnosis of upper urinary tract infections in infants

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Abstract

Background

There are no consensus criteria for diagnosing upper urinary tract infections (UTI). Therefore, we conducted a study to assess whether bacterial colony counts of ≥ 103 CFU/ml are optimal for diagnosing upper UTIs among infants.

Methods

This retrospective observational study included 673 patients (<4 months of age) with urine samples obtained by catheterization for bacterial cultures. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were obtained when cutoff values of 103, 104, and 105 CFU/ml were used for diagnosing upper UTIs. Upper UTI patients were divided based on cutoff values: Group A (103 CFU/ml), Group B (104 CFU/ml), and Group C (≥ 105 CFU/ml).

Results

Of the 197 positive (≥ 103 CFU/ml) patients, 92 were diagnosed with an upper UTI. These patients were divided into Group A (n = 23), Group B (n = 16), and Group C (n = 53). No significant differences were detected in terms of clinical findings, including the incidence of vesicoureteral reflex. When cutoff values of 103, 104, and 105 CFU/ml were used for diagnosing upper UTIs, the sensitivity/specificity percentages were 100/81.3, 75.0/95.9, and 57.6/97.5, and the PPVs/NPVs were 46.7/100, 75.0/95.9, and 79.1/93.4.

Conclusion

Using ≥ 105 CFU/ml as a diagnostic threshold leads to approximately 40% of positive cases being missed. In contrast when ≥ 103 CFU/ml is used, all upper UTIs were identified. Therefore, bacterial colony counts of ≥ 103 CFU/ml should be considered the cutoff value for the diagnosis of upper UTIs in infants (< 4 months of age).

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Yoshitaka Nakamura, MD, Shin-ichiro Hori, MD, and Katsushi Kaji for collecting data. We thank Kate Fox, DPhil, from Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Kansai Medical University, 2-5-1 Shinmachi, Hirakata, Osaka, Japan

    Yuko Akagawa, Takahisa Kimata, Shohei Akagawa, Sadayuki Fujishiro, Shogo Kato, Sohsaku Yamanouchi, Shoji Tsuji, Minoru Kino & Kazunari Kaneko

  2. Nakano Children’s Hospital, 4-13-17 Shinmori, Asahiku, Osaka, Japan

    Shogo Kato & Minoru Kino

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  1. Yuko Akagawa
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  2. Takahisa Kimata
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  3. Shohei Akagawa
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  4. Sadayuki Fujishiro
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  5. Shogo Kato
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  6. Sohsaku Yamanouchi
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  8. Minoru Kino
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  9. Kazunari Kaneko
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Correspondence to Kazunari Kaneko.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee at which the studies were conducted (Nakano Children’s Hospital License No. 36) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Akagawa, Y., Kimata, T., Akagawa, S. et al. Optimal bacterial colony counts for the diagnosis of upper urinary tract infections in infants. Clin Exp Nephrol 24, 253–258 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10157-019-01812-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10157-019-01812-8

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