Use of clinical findings in the diagnosis of urinary tract infection in women

Robert Swift Wigton, V. L. Hoellerich, J. P. Ornato, V. Leu, L. A. Mazzotta, I. H. Cheng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

To develop a decision rule for predicting urinary culture results in patients suspected of having urinary tract infection, we used discriminant analysis to identify the optimum combination of clinical findings. Thirty variables identified in a pilot study were recorded from 248 patients in a second study. Five findings were independent predictors of positive urinary culture: history of urinary tract infection, back pain, microscopic pyuria, hematuria, and bacteriuria. An additive decision rule that assigned one point for each of the five variables was tested in a third group of 258 patients. These scores stratified patients into subsets with increasing likelihood of positive culture. Higher scores identified patients who can confidently be treated without documentation of bacteriuria. If the rule applies successfully to other populations, cost savings could result from identification of patients who do not require quantitative urinary culture to demonstrate significant bacteriuria.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2222-2227
Number of pages6
JournalArchives of Internal Medicine
Volume145
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 1985

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Internal Medicine

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