[Variables influencing duration of hospitalization for urinary tract infection].

Background: The need for hospitalization and its duration in children with urinary tract infections (UTI) are controversial.

Objective: To analyze the effect of certain clinical factors from the medical records of children hospitalized with UTI to determine which factors have the greatest influence on length of hospital stay.

Material And Methods: A retrospective study of the medical records of 93 patients admitted to our department with a diagnosis of UTI between May 1998 and June 2000 was carried out. All cases were confirmed by bacteriological analysis. The variables analyzed included age, sex, duration of fever before and during admission, temperature, length of intravenous antibiotic therapy, administration of aminoglycosides, presence of urinary tract malformations, previous episodes of UTI, and length of hospital stay.

Results: The variables with the greatest influence on a length of hospital stay of more than 7 days were age, especially an age of less than 24 months (OR 3.42; 95 % CI 1.2-9) and the number of days with fever during hospitalization (more than 2 days: OR 2.73; 95 % CI 1.07-7.6).

Conclusion: Patient age significantly influences length of hospital stay in children with UTI. To optimize resources, ambulatory treatment of children with UTI should be encouraged, even in those younger than 2 years.