Comparing the specificity and sensitivity of nitrate and leucocyte tests on multistick in screening for urinary tract infections amongst pregnant woment at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja, Nigeria

OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out to determine a very reliable and rapid screening test using multistick (or multistix), microscopy, and culture methods for urinary tract infections (UTI) in pregnant women attending the antenatal booking clinic (ANC) of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Nigeria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A group of 352 pregnant women were randomly selected at the antenatal booking clinic and evaluated for urinary tract infections (UTI) using the above mentioned screening test methods. The ages of patients ranged from 20 to 40 years, with the 31-35 age range accounting for over 42% of the study population, and two-thirds of them being multigravidae. RESULTS: Positive urine culture with significant bacteriuria was found in 163 patients which was 46.3%. One hundred and thirty three (133) of this number did not present with urinary symptoms at all, although pair urine culture was positive with significant bacteriuria. Also, eleven patients of the study population has urinary symptoms but their urine culture did not yield any significant growth, after 48 hours of incubation. CONCLUSION: It was found in this study that leucocyte dipstick test has excellent specificity (90.5%) but not a very good sensitivity (28.8%), when compared with nitrite dipstick which has a specificity of 78.8% and sensitivity of 56.4%.