Should you test for urinary tract infection in children with respiratory symptoms?

Can Fam Physician. 2024 Mar;70(3):169-170. doi: 10.46747/cfp.7003169.ABSTRACTQUESTION: An 8-month-old boy presented to our clinic with a 3-day history of fever. He has had a cough and rhinorrhea since the onset of the fever, and his 4-year-old sibling has recently had cough and cold symptoms. I have heard that the presence of respiratory symptoms means that urinary tract infection (UTI) is less likely. In infants with fever and respiratory symptoms, who should have a sample collected for urinalysis for UTI?ANSWER: The approach to diagnosing febrile infants who have respiratory symptoms varies by age. Urinalysis should be done for all febrile infants younger than 2 months of age, regardless of whether they have respiratory symptoms. Clinicians should assess risk factors for UTI in every infant between 2 and 24 months of age and should not exclude the diagnosis of UTI based on respiratory symptoms alone. Use of a predictive tool to estimate the pretest probability of UTI would aid decision making about patients in this population.PMID:38499366 | DOI:10.46747/cfp.7003169
Source: Canadian Family Physician Medecin de Famille Canadien - Category: Primary Care Authors: Source Type: research