UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Diagnostic uncertainty and urinary tract infection in the emergency department: a cohort study from a UK hospital

Shallcross, LJ; Rockenschaub, P; McNulty, D; Freemantle, N; Hayward, A; Gill, MJ; (2020) Diagnostic uncertainty and urinary tract infection in the emergency department: a cohort study from a UK hospital. BMC Emergency Medicine , 20 (1) , Article 40. 10.1186/s12873-020-00333-y. Green open access

[thumbnail of Hayward_Diagnostic uncertainty and urinary tract infection in the emergency department_VoR.pdf]
Preview
Text
Hayward_Diagnostic uncertainty and urinary tract infection in the emergency department_VoR.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Suspected urinary tract infection (UTI) syndromes are a common reason for empirical antibiotics to be prescribed in the Emergency Department (ED), but differentiating UTI from other conditions with a similar presentation is challenging. We investigated how often an ED diagnosis of UTI is confirmed clinically/microbiologically, and described conditions which present as UTI syndromes. METHODS: Observational study using electronic health records from patients who attended the ED with suspected UTI and had a urine sample submitted for culture. We compared the ED diagnosis to diagnosis at discharge from hospital (ICD-10 codes), and estimated the proportion of cases with clinical/microbiological evidence of UTI. RESULTS: Two hundred eighty nine patients had an ED diagnosis of UTI syndrome comprising: lower UTI (191), pyelonephritis (56) and urosepsis (42). In patients admitted to hospital with an ED diagnosis of lower UTI, pyelonephritis or urosepsis, clinical/microbiological evidence of UTI was lacking in 61/103, 33/54 and 31/42 cases respectively. The ED diagnosis was concordant with the main reason for admission in less than 40% of patients with UTI syndromes, and antibiotics were stopped within 72 h in 37/161 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical/microbiological evidence of UTI was lacking in 60-70% of patients, suggesting scope to revise empirical prescribing decisions for UTI syndromes in light of microbial culture and clinical progression.

Type: Article
Title: Diagnostic uncertainty and urinary tract infection in the emergency department: a cohort study from a UK hospital
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1186/s12873-020-00333-y
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-020-00333-y
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, Antimicrobial stewardship, Electronic health records, Emergency department, Urinary tract infection
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology > Comprehensive CTU at UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Health Informatics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10099256
Downloads since deposit
53Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item