Risk factors for recurrent urinary tract infection in 4,332 Belgian schoolchildren aged between 10 and 14 years

To analyse the risk factors for recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) and the possible influence of potty-training, a questionnaire with 41 questions was completed by 4,332 parents of children completing the last 2 years of normal primary school. Statistical analysis was done with the Chi-squared test and Yates correction. Three groups of children emerged: one without any history of UTI ( n=3818), a group with one actual or former UTI ( n=382) and a group with recurrent UTI ( n=132). Mean age was 11.5+/-0.56 years. A strong correlation between daytime and/or night-time wetting, voiding frequency of more than 10 times a day and nocturia and recurrent UTI was found. No correlation between these factors and a single UTI could be demonstrated. In the 343 bed-wetting children, equal infections for boys and girls were found. Potty-training started significantly earlier in children without UTI. Parents of children with recurrent UTIs insisted more when the first attempt to void was unsuccessful: in the group without UTI, most parents just postponed and had the child try later again. In the group with recurrent UTI, more parents asked the child to strain, made special noises or turned on a tap.

Daytime with/without night-time wetting, more than 10 voidings a day and nocturia are indicators of recurrent urinary tract infections. If they are simultaneously present, the relative risk for recurrent urinary tract infections is 60%. Consequently, paediatricians should take urinary symptoms very seriously into account, and as incontinence is still a hidden condition, question the child on this topic.