Because urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a quite common disease, the gold standard for diagnosing UTIs is still bacterial culture, although a large percentage of samples are negative: unnecessary Cultures call be reduced by means of ail effective screening test. The analytic performance of a new urine cytometer, the UF-1000i, has been tested oil 1463 urine samples Submitted to our laboratory for culture. Bacteria and leukocyte counts have been compared by means of the UF-1000i with colony-forriling unit (CFU) quantification on citrate lactose electrolytes deficient agar to assess the best cutoff values. By using quantitative cultures and considering as positive a sample with 10 x 10(5) CFU/mL, 546 positive samples (37%) were observed. If compared with 10 x 10(5) CFU/mL, the cutoff values obtained were 125 bacteria/mu L and 40 leukocytes/mu L, respectively. Analytic parameters Such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and correctly classified incidence were satisfactory. Based oil the results obtained in this study, when using the UF-1000i analyzer for a screening test for UTI, a Cutoff value of 40 white blood cells/mu L should be adopted. The cutoff value for bacteria should be 125/mu L for those clinical conditions in which 10 x 10(5) CFU/mL indicates a positivity. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.