Urinary lnterleukin-8 in acute pyelonephritis of children: a before-after study

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to assess urinary interleukin-8 [IL-8] levels in pyelonephritis and its relation with the clinical course of the infection and of inflammatory changes detected by renal scintigraphy. In this quasi-experimental before-after study, we evaluated 91 children aged 1 to 144 months [mean 34.4 +/- 35.2 months] with pyelonephritis. Inflammatory markers including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, leukocyte count, and urinary IL-8, together with the results of ultrasonography, voiding cystourethrography, and dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scintigraphy were evaluated in these children. The ratios of urinary IL-8 to creatinine [IL-8/C] before and after the treatment were compared with each other. Urinary IL-8/C levels were significantly higher after the empirical treatment in comparison with those before the treatment [0.19 +/- 0.21 versus 0.51 +/- 0.53, P < .001]. No correlation was found between the urinary IL-8 levels and leukocyturia, urine culture results, other inflammatory markers, or findings of imaging examinations. We found high urinary IL-8 levels in children with pyelonephritis. We also documented its increasing after the treatment. We conclude that evaluation of urinary IL-8 can be a noninvasive test for diagnosis of upper urinary tract infection and its response to treatment