1484. Prevalence of Pyuria With and Without Bacteriuria in Healthy Pre-Menopausal Women

BACKGROUND: Pyuria has long been considered key to diagnosis of urinary tract infection in women, but there is a paucity of data on its prevalence and association with asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) in healthy women, even though pyuria and ASB often trigger inappropriate antimicrobial treatment. METHODS: We enrolled 104 healthy premenopausal women with a history of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in an observational study and performed daily assessments of bacteriuria, pyuria (leukocyte esterase strips) and UTI symptoms over a 3-month period. These data enabled an evaluation of the prevalence of pyuria and ASB and associations between them. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 22 and 74% were white. Pyuria occurred frequently in this cohort of women, with 72 (77%) of 94 evaluable subjects having pyuria on at least one day with no symptomatic UTI diagnosed. The median percent of days with pyuria reported was 7% (range, 0–100%). Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB, urine culture with colony count ≥105 CFU/mL of uropathogen on days with no symptomatic UTI diagnosed) occurred in 45 (45%) women on 159 (2.5%) of 6,283 days. ASB was most commonly caused by E. coli, which was present in 1.4% of days with median duration one day (range, 1–10). The positive predictive value of pyuria in detecting ASB was 4%. Five women had 11 transient episodes of pyuria, significant bacteriuria, and UTI symptoms (“preclinical UTI”) but did not seek medical attention. CONCLUSION: In this population of healthy women at high risk for UTI and ASB, asymptomatic pyuria was a frequent occurrence and ASB rarely lasted more than 2 days. Pyuria, whether associated with bacteriuria or not, was generally not accompanied by urinary symptoms and did not appear to be clinically meaningful. Young women with recurrent UTI are often advised by their providers to test their urine with dipsticks for pyuria or bacteriuria, and be treated if either are positive, regardless of absence of UTI symptoms. Such practices, which contribute to antimicrobial resistance, are not supported by our data. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.