Is Culture-positive Urinary Tract Infection in Febrile Children Accurately Identified by Urine Dipstick or Microanalysis?

BackgroundFever from a urinary tract source remains the predominant etiology of serious bacterial infection in children ages 0–36 months. Urine culture is the gold standard for diagnosing a urinary tract infection (UTI); however, urine dipstick (UDip) and urine microanalysis (UA) are typically used real time by Emergency Physicians to diagnose and treat UTIs, as cultures can take days to grow and be available. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the literature on the accuracy and utility of the UDip and UA in this pediatric population.MethodsA structured review of the medical literature to determine the accuracy of UDip and UA for the diagnosis of UTI in children before the result of the urine culture.ResultsUpon comprehensive review and after applying predefined inclusion criteria, a total of 13 articles met inclusion criteria, addressed the clinical question, and were reviewed in detail.ConclusionsThe literature search did not conclusively identify any component of either the UDip or the UA, which would allow a practitioner to conclude definitively that the source of an infant's fever is a UTI.