Take Urine Concentration into Account When Evaluating Urine Specimens for Infection

Urinary tract infection (UTI) in young children can present with nonspecific symptoms, and diagnosis can be challenging. We rely on urinalysis, specifically the presence of white blood cells, when making management decisions, but these efforts are often hindered by infants' relatively dilute urine. This retrospective study examined the impact of three different urine concentrations (specific gravity [SG] <1.011; 1.011–1.020; >1.020) on urinalysis' ability to predict UTI in children <24 months of age.

Over 24,000 children with both a urinalysis and urine culture collected by catheterization in an emergency department over a 5-year period were included in the analysis. Researchers examined pyuria (white blood cells per high power field and pre…