[Evaluation of urine screening in healthy infants]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate urine screening in healthy infants.

A retrospective analysis was made of the medical records of all children born between June 1, 1993 and May 31, 1995 who are registered at a primary care center in the south of Madrid. Two hundred eighty-eight 1-month-old babies were tested (131 boys and 157 girls) with a urine dipstick (Combur-9 Test) and a uroculture was performed in those children whose test showed an alteration in the dipstick. In patients with urinary tract infection, the study was completed with radiographic procedures

Of all tests carried out, only 61 were positive (21.1%) and urinary tract infection was confirmed in 9 patients (14%). A grade II vesicoureteral reflux was detected in only one girl (1.6% of patients with positive test and 0.3% of all the infants studied). The follow up of the 227 infants with initial negative screening found urinary tract infections in 9 of them (3.9%), without malformations of the genitourinary tract.

This study has proven a low positive predictive value of the urine dipstick (1.6%) for urine screening. The authors believe that this screening should be reserved for infants with symptoms of urinary tract infection or at risk groups of children in order to avoid the study and treatment of infants with asymptomatic bacteria.