THE VALIDITY OF URINE EXAMINATION FOR URINARY-TRACT INFECTIONS IN DAILY PRACTICE

For urinary tract infections (UTI), diagnostic testing appears to be r eliable and simple to perform. This particularly seems to hold true fo r test strips. In studies the validity of several urine tests proved t o be high. These studies were, however, performed under optimal and st andardized conditions. Their results therefore do not reflect daily pr actice. In this study the validity of urine tests for UTI is determine d under daily practice conditions, without the use of a protocol. The results show a validity considerably lower than under optimal conditio ns. Specificity in particular was lower, even for simple tests like th e nitrite reaction. Under daily practice conditions, UTI can neither b e confirmed nor excluded sufficiently on the basis of the outcome of a urinary sediment or test strip.