Comparison Between Urine Dipstick and Microscopic Examination Urinalysis With Urine Culture to Evaluate the Sensitivity and Specificity for Each in Diagnosing Urinary Tract Infection in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 16; no. 4; p. e59069
• Main Authors: Almuhanna, Hana S, Alhojelan, Ali M, Al Rusayni, Yasir A, Almohanna, Muhannad A, AlDhalea, Hatem M, Aljulajil, Abdullah A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cureus Inc 26-04-2024; Cureus
• Subjects: Accuracy; Automation; Data collection; Emergency medical care; Emergency Medicine; Glucose; Hematuria; Hospitals; Infectious Disease; Leukocytes; Medical diagnosis; Microscopy; Nephrology; Patients; Proteins; Urinalysis; Urinary tract diseases; Urinary tract infections; Urination; Urine; Urogenital system; Saudi Arabia; Hungary; saudi arabia; urinalysis; emergency medicine; urinary tract infection; urine dipstick
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.59069

Urinalysis is the most popular test for evaluating emergency room patients with possible urinary tract infections (UTIs). Due to their speed and inexpensive cost, urine dipsticks are frequently performed in the Emergency Room. Although a urine dipstick test may be less expensive and time-saving than a laboratory study, it may not be accurate. The study evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of urine dipstick and microscopic urinalysis with a urine culture.
A prospective, observational study was conducted on adults who visited the Emergency Department at King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Buraydah and reported having dysuria, urine urgency, or frequency, as well as suprapubic or costovertebral angle soreness. Patients who could not give a trustworthy history, had symptoms of vaginal discharge, or had taken antibiotics within the previous 72 hours were excluded.
One hundred fifty-three urine samples were collected and examined using urinalysis and dipstick. In addition, 113 (73.86%) of 153 urine samples exhibited no growth in urine culture. With a count of nine,
(
) was the most often isolated organism among the positive cultures (5.88%).
was the second most common in our sample with eight (5.23%). The urine dipstick was shown to have an overall sensitivity of 0.79, specificity of 0.39, positive productive value (PPV) of 0.30, and negative productive value (NPV) of 0.85. Urinalysis exhibited a high sensitivity of 0.95 and a poor specificity of 0.21.
Our study showed that urine dipsticks may be more beneficial than urinalysis for ruling out urinary tract infections (UTIs), while urinalysis may be more helpful in verifying their presence.