ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Diagnosis and management of childhood urinary tract infection (UTI) is challenging in general practice because of a range of factors. AIM: To explore GPs' perspectives concerning the barriers to and facilitators for diagnosis and management of childhood UTI. DESIGN AND SETTING: Qualitative study in general practice in Belgium. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews with 23 GPs from January 2021 to June 2021 were carried out. Interviews were video-recorded and audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using a thematic approach. RESULTS: The barriers to early diagnosis of UTI were the assumption of low UTI prevalence and aspecific presentation of UTI in children, difficulties in urine collection, and diagnostic uncertainty. All GPs indicated that they sampled urine in either children with specific UTI features (for example, dysuria, abdominal pain) or unexplained fever. Facilitators for UTI screening were instructional material for parents, skill training for GPs, additional nursing staff, novel non-invasive convenient collection methods, online decision support informing parents when to bring a urine sample to the consultation, and an accurate, easy-to-use point-of-care test for UTI. Empirical antibiotic treatment was initiated based on dipstick test results, clinical features suggestive of UTI, severity of illness, gut feeling, long duration of fever, time of the day, and parents' ability to judge disease severity. CONCLUSION: The assumption of a low UTI prevalence, absence of obvious UTI features, and difficult urine sampling might cause childhood UTIs to go undetected in general practice. Diagnostic uncertainty makes appropriate treatment challenging.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Diagnosing childhood urinary tract infections (UTIs) is challenging. Clinical prediction rules may help to identify children that require urine sampling. However, there is a lack of research to determine the accuracy of the scores in general practice. AIM: To validate clinical prediction rules (UTI Calculator [UTICalc], A Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection in Young Children [DUTY], and Gorelick score) for paediatric UTIs in primary care. DESIGN & SETTING: Post-hoc analysis of a cross-sectional study in 39 general practices and two emergency departments (EDs). The study took place in Belgium from March 2019-March 2020. METHOD: Physicians recruited acutely ill children aged ≤18 years and sampled urine systematically for culture. Per rule, an apparent validation was performed, and sensitivities and specificities were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) per threshold in the target group. For the DUTY coefficient-based algorithm, a logistic calibration was performed and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated with 95% CI. RESULTS: Of 834 children aged ≤18 years recruited, there were 297 children aged <5 years. The UTICalc and Gorelick score had high-to-moderate sensitivity and low specificity: UTICalc (≥2%) 75% and 16%, respectively; Gorelick (≥2 variables) 91% and 8%, respectively. In contrast, the DUTY score ≥5 points had low sensitivity (8%) but high specificity (99%). Urine samples would be obtained in 72% versus 38% (UTICalc), 92% versus 38% (Gorelick) or 1% versus 32% (DUTY) of children, compared with routine care. The number of missed infections per score was 1/4 (UTICalc), 2/23 (Gorelick), and 24/26 (DUTY). The UTICalc + dipstick model had high sensitivity and specificity (100% and 91%), resulting in no missed cases and 59% (95% CI = 49% to 68%) of antibiotics prescribed inappropriately. CONCLUSION: In this study, the UTICalc and Gorelick score were useful for ruling out UTI, but resulted in high urine sampling rates. The DUTY score had low sensitivity, meaning that 92% of UTIs would be missed.
ABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate the diagnostic test accuracy of urine collection methods for urinary tract infections in outpatient children. METHODS: A systematic literature review until April 2021 (Medline, Web of Science, Embase, Cinahl) to examine the diagnostic test accuracy of urine culture on collection methods for urinary tract infection in outpatient children below 18 years. Contamination rates were studied as secondary outcome. The risk of bias was assessed using the QUADAS-2 criteria. Two-by-two tables were extracted in duplicate to calculate sensitivities, specificities, and likelihood ratios with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: The search identified seven relevant studies. Clean catch compared to catheterization in children less than 90 days showed a sensitivity and specificity of 97% and 89% (95% CI: 84%-100% and 67%-99%), respectively. Adhesive bags compared to catheterization showed a sensitivity of 83% (95% CI: 75%-90%) and specificity of 91% (95% CI: 83%-96%). There was a similar diagnostic accuracy when comparing urine sampling by means of adhesive bags versus nappy pads. The contamination rate was 5% for clean catch, 30%-80% for adhesive bags and 64% for nappy pads. CONCLUSION: Nappy pads and adhesive bags are easy to use with comparable accuracy but are extremely prone to contamination. Clean-catch urine sampling might be an accurate alternative in young infants in ambulatory care.
