Frequency and clinical presentation of UTI among children of Hazara Division, Pakistan.

Background: Urinary tract infection is common in children and result in permanent renal damage and end stage renal failure in significant number of patients. It is imperative to diagnose urinary tract infection early and to treat adequately. We carried out this study to look into frequency and clinical profile of UTI in children admitted in our unit.

Methods: Three hundred and seventy five patients with UTI, diagnosed by urine culture with age from 0-15 years admitted in pediatric unit during 2003-2006 were included in study. Urine sample for culture was collected by midstream clean catch, urine collecting bag and Suprapubic methods depending upon the age of patient. A proforma was used to record clinical presentation and laboratory findings of these patients.

Results: Frequency of Urinary tract infections among children examined by urine culture was 375 out of 1000 (37.5%) out of which 36 (9.6%) were male and 339 (90.4%) were females. Almost half of them 48.5% were less than 3 years old. About 60% of patients belong to Kohistan and Batagram districts and failure to thrive was common presenting feature (56.6%) in patients of these two districts. Fever was common clinical presentation 91% followed by Dysuria (65%) and failure to thrive (40%).

Conclusion: Frequency and clinical profile of urinary tract infection in children in Hazara Division is not significantly different from that of developing and developed countries.