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A urine analysis method suitable for children's nappies
A Edwards1, J van der Voort, R Newcombe
1Department of General Practice, University of Wales College of Medicine, Llanedeyrn Health Centre, Cardiff, UK.
Journal of Clinical Pathology
|July 1, 1997
Summary
A new method of testing children's urine on panty-liners accurately detects urinary tract infections (UTIs). This simple approach can help identify children needing further urine culture in primary care settings.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nephrology
- Clinical Diagnostics
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in infants are often underdiagnosed, potentially leading to severe complications like renal scarring, hypertension, and renal failure.
- Difficulties in diagnosing UTIs in children necessitate simple and reliable preliminary testing methods.
- Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial to prevent long-term sequelae of pediatric UTIs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a novel, simple method for detecting urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children.
- To assess the reliability of testing urine for nitrite and leucocyte esterase using panty-liners in a primary care context.
- To determine the feasibility of this method for preliminary screening of pediatric urine samples.
Main Methods:
- An in vitro study compared conventional urine dipstick analysis with analysis of urine-soaked panty-liners using two types of test sticks (Boehringer Mannheim Nephur and Bayer Multistix 8SG).
- The study analyzed agreement, bias, sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive values for each method.
- Two brands of panty-liners were used in conjunction with the urine analysis test sticks.
Main Results:
- Testing urine on panty-liners demonstrated consistent results comparable to conventional dipstick analysis.
- For laboratory-confirmed UTIs, Boehringer sticks showed 94% sensitivity and 98% negative predictive value at 21.8% prevalence.
- At lower prevalences (1-5%) expected in primary care, both Bayer and Boehringer sticks achieved high negative predictive values (98.7%-99.9%), indicating strong reliability for ruling out UTIs.
Conclusions:
- The panty-liner method for urine testing is accurate and comparable to traditional urine analysis.
- This simple technique holds potential for primary care settings to screen unwell children for UTIs.
- It can effectively identify children who require confirmatory urine culture, improving diagnostic efficiency.
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