The Assessment of Urinary Metabolites in Children with Urinary Tract Infection

Aim: To evaluate the association between urinary tract infection (UTI) and urinary metabolites. Material and Method: Eighty children aged below 14 years old who were following for recurrent UTI were enrolled into the study. Urinary calcium (Uca), oxalate (Uox), citrate (Ucit) and cysteine (Ucis) levels were studied in 24 hours urine samples. Hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria and hypocitraturia were identified according to the reference values. The positivity of sodium nitroprussid test was accepted as cystinuria. The results were compared between patients and control groups involving thirty children. The patients were divided into two subgroups according to the presence of renal scarring (RS) on radionuclide scan. The similar comparisons were made between the subgroups. Results: There was no significant difference between the ratios of hypercalciuria, hypocitraturia and cystinuria in patient and control groups (p> 0.05). Uox/Ucr levels were significantly increased in patients compared to controls (p= 0.001) whereas Uca/Ucr and Ucit/Ucr levels were similar among study groups (p= 0.082 and p= 0.466). There was no significant difference between RS (-) and RS (+) groups for hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, hypocitraturia and cystinuria (p> 0.05). Discussion: The increase in urinary excretion of oxalate might be a risk factor for UTI. There was no evidence regarding that urinary metabolic abnormalities such as hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, hypocitraturia and cystinuria have affected the development of RS in the setting of UTI.