Abstract
The use of urinary dipsticks to screen out sterile urine specimens was investigated in catheterized ICU patients. During a three-month period, each urine sample quantitatively cultured was concurrently tested at the bedside with a dipstick. A total of 102 urine samples taken from 43 patients were analysed. Thirty-eight of them showed bacterial or yeast growths (incidence rate, 37%). The negative predictive value of the leukocyte esterase pad and/or the nitrate test pad to screen out sterile urine samples was 81%, indicating that dipsticks cannot routinely be proposed to select catheterized ICU patients for quantitative culture of urine.
MeSH terms
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Bacteria / isolation & purification
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Bacteriuria / diagnosis*
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Bacteriuria / microbiology
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Bacteriuria / urine
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Candida / isolation & purification
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Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases / urine
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Catheters, Indwelling / adverse effects
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Colony Count, Microbial
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Critical Care*
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Enterococcus / isolation & purification
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Escherichia coli / isolation & purification
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Female
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Humans
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Klebsiella / isolation & purification
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Male
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Middle Aged
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Nitrates / urine
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Patients' Rooms
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Predictive Value of Tests
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Pseudomonas / isolation & purification
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Reagent Strips*
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Sensitivity and Specificity
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Staphylococcus / isolation & purification
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Urinary Catheterization / adverse effects*
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Urinary Catheterization / instrumentation
Substances
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Nitrates
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Reagent Strips
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leukocyte esterase
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Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases