# Positive Bacterial Culture among Adults with Suspected Urinary Tract Infections Presenting to the Department of Medicine of a Tertiary Care Centre

## TL;DR

This study found that about 42% of adults with suspected urinary tract infections had positive bacterial cultures, with E. coli being the most common cause.

## Contribution

The study reports a higher prevalence of positive bacterial cultures in urinary tract infections compared to prior studies in similar settings.

## Key findings

- 41.69% of 355 patients had positive bacterial cultures for urinary tract infections.
- Escherichia coli was the most common organism, accounting for 81.08% of positive cultures.

## Abstract

Urinary tract infections are the most common infections encountered in clinical practice. Treatment needs to take into account the likely organism, comorbidities and local antibiotic sensitivity pattern. This study aimed to find the prevalence of positive bacterial culture among adults with suspected urinary tract infections presenting to the department of medicine of a tertiary care centre.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among adults with suspected urinary tract infections. Data was collected between 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2022 after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee. Individuals with symptomatic urinary tract infections were included in the study. The antibiotic susceptibility tests of the isolates were done. A convenience sampling method was used. The point estimate was calculated at a 95% Confidence Interval.

Among 355 patients, positive cultures were obtained in 148 (41.69%) (36.56-46.82, 95% Confidence Interval). Escherichia coli 120 (81.08%) was the predominant organism cultured among the positive bacterial culture cases.

The prevalence of positive bacterial culture was found to be higher than other studies done in similar settings.