Attiya Rasool, Shehla Ambreen Ali Zai, Rabia Niaz, Sadia Saeed Chaudhery, Qurat-ul Ain, Majid Latif.
Detection of Urinary Tract Infection by Estimating Leukocyte-Esterase in Urine Using Dipsticks.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;13(1):76-8.

Background: Urine tract infections (UTI) are very common among general population. Successful treatment requites prompt and rapid diagnosis to avoid complications particularly in females who are more prone to develop UTI due to close proximity of genitourinary and anal openings. Aim: To determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and efficacy of dipsticks to estimate presence of Leukocyte-Esterase (LE) in urine which indicates UTI. Methods: A descriptive study was carried out at Department of Microbiology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi from 1st Jan to 30th June 2015. All the urine samples received in the Microbiology Department for urine culture were included in the study. All specimens were subjected to urine dipstick analysis for leukocyte esterase. All the urine samples were also used for culture on Cysteine Lactose Electrolyte Deficient (CLED) agar. Results: Out of 1100 urine specimens included in the study, 342 (31.09%) were LE positive and 282 (25.64%) were culture positive. Among LE - positive isolates 218(63.74%) were culture positive and 124 (36.26%) were culture negative. Similarly LE negative (n=758) revealed 64 (8.44%) culture positive and 694 (91.56%) culture negative results. Sensitivity (77.31%), Specificity (84.84%), Positive (56.77%) and Negative Predictive values (91.6%) and over all efficacy (82.91%) of LE Test using dipsticks were noted. Conclusion: Leukocyte esterase dipstick test is a rapid screening and cost effective test which can be used in areas with limited resources. It is very useful to detect presence of urinary tract infection. However, negative test provides better indication of absence of UTI.

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