Patients with suspected urinary tract infections (UTIs) are categorized into three clinical phenotypes based on current guidelines: no UTI, asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), or UTI. However, all patients may not fit neatly into these groups. The team's objective was to characterize clinical presentations of patients who receive urine tests using the "continuum of UTI" approach.
The data suggest the need to reframe our conceptual model of UTI vs ASB to reflect the full spectrum of clinical presentations, acknowledge the diagnostic uncertainty faced by front line clinicians, and promote a nuanced approach to diagnosis and management of UTIs.
The entire article from Dr. Sonali Advani and team can be found in The Journal of Urology.