Diagnostic accuracy of a point-of-care test using voided urine samples for detection of bacteriuria in dogs with signs of lower urinary tract disease

Abstract

Background: Bacterial urine culture is recommended in dogs suspected of havingurinary tract infection (UTI), but there is expense and delay in obtaining such results.

Hypothesis/Objective: To determine the diagnostic performance of a rapid immuno-assay (RIA) dipstick for detection of bacteriuria using voided urine from dogs with clinical signs of lower UTI.

Animals: Twenty-four client-owned dogs.

Methods: Voided urine was collected and the RIA performed within 30 minutes. Urinecollected by cystocentesis was submitted for aerobic urine culture. McNemar’s test andkappa coefficient were calculated to determine agreement between the 2 tests.

Results: Nine of 21 dogs (43%) had UTI verified by aerobic urine culture. There was1 false-negative and no false-positive RIA results. Sensitivity, specificity, positive pre-dictive value, and negative predictive value of the RIA were 89%, 100%, 100%, and92%, respectively

Conclusions and Clinical Importance: This RIA is promising for correctly identifyingwhether or not voided urine samples from dogs with lower urinary tract clinical signs havetrue bacteriuria in a rapid, inexpensive manner. Additional patients should be enrolled in asimilar study to determine if diagnostic performance is robust in a large population

K E Y W O R D S

bladder, cystitis, infection, urinary tract, urine culture