Rapid and Accurate Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infections Using Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing: A Multicenter Comparative Study with Metagenomic Sequencing and Traditional Culture Methods.

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) rank among the most prevalent bacterial infections globally. Traditional urine culture methods have significant limitations in detection time and sensitivity, prompting the need to evaluate targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) as a potential diagnostic tool.

Methods: The study included a discovery cohort of 400 suspected UTI patients (202 analyzed) and a validation cohort of 200 patients (110 analyzed).