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Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 8(42), p. e278-e282, 2023

DOI: 10.1097/inf.0000000000003947

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Febrile Urinary Tract Infection in Infants Less Than 3 Months of Age

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Introduction: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the leading cause of bacterial infection in infants younger than 3 months of age with fever without a source. Objective: The objective of the study was to analyze the characteristics of emergency department presentations of febrile infants younger than 3 months of age with a UTI and identify risk factors for invasive bacterial infection (IBI) secondary to UTI. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a prospective observational registry that includes infants younger than 3 months with fever without a source managed at a pediatric emergency department between 2003 and 2019. Results: Of the 2850 patients included, 592 (20.8%) were diagnosed with a UTI (524, 88.5%, for Escherichia coli). Infants with UTIs showed significant clinical differences when compared with those not diagnosed with a bacterial infection: patients with a UTI were more likely to have a history of renal/urological problems (8.3% vs. 3.5%), temperature ≥39ºC (38.3% vs. 29%) and poor feeding (13% vs. 8.7%). Yet, nearly half (285 of the 592, 48.1%) of the infants with febrile UTIs had none of these 3 risk factors. Thirty-six infants (6.1%) had a secondary IBI. We identified the following independent risk factors for secondary IBI: infants younger than 1 month of age, parent-reported irritability, procalcitonin >0.5 ng/mL, and C-reactive protein >60 mg/L. Conclusions: History and physical examination do not allow us to safely rule out a UTI among young febrile infants. Age, parent-reported irritability, and biomarkers are useful in identifying patients at increased risk of secondary IBI.