**4. Discussion**

In this study the prevalence of bacteriuria in women was found to be 13.3% (8/60), in pregnant women 16.7% (5/30), and in non-pregnant women 10% (3/30). Asymptomatic bacteriuria in all women was 8.3% (5/60), in pregnant women was 11.7% (4/30), and in non-pregnant women was 5% (2/30). This indicates that about

### *Urinary Tract Infection and Nephropathy - Insights into Potential Relationship*

16.7% of pregnant women are at risk of development of acute episode of UTI during pregnancy if they are not properly treated. These findings are similar to that of Uncu who reported the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnant women 9.3% [19]. In a study performed in turkey, the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria was reported to be 8.1% [20]. The results of the present study found significantly high relation between age and bacteriuria (p = 0.00) (**Table 1**) and revealed that the bacteriuria in women was commonest in the age group 25–30 years 62.5%, and these result agreed with study by Buzayan in Libya [21], but contrast with study in Yemen that observed the bacteriuria was more in the age group 15–24 years 53.7% [22]. The difference may be due to social factors such as early age of marriage and sexual activity. There is no significant relationship between level of education and bacteriuria (p = 0.147) (**Table 2**), the prevalence of bacteriuria was 30.8% in illiterate, 18.5% in primary, 11.1% in secondary and 5.7% in university level of education However, as the level of education increases there is decrease in bacteriuria among women and these findings are similar with Samad [23]. The prevalence of bacteriuria was 14.7% in married women, and 8% in unmarried women, differences are founded apparently but no statistical difference (p = 0.562) (**Table 2**), while Krcmery et al., showed that the risk factors for bacteriuria


#### **Table 1.**

*The distribution of cases of bacteriuria according to the age of the studied groups.*


#### **Table 2.**

*The distribution of cases of bacteriuria in the studied population according to their education level, marital status and UTI.*

in women include sexual intercourse and having a marital history [24] (**Table 3**). The bacteriuria in the pregnant women was observed more in the third trimester 21.4% than in the first trimester 6.3%, and second trimester 20%. But no significant (p = 0.423) (**Table 4**). Similar with Haddad who found that the bacteriuria was more


**Table 3.**

*The distribution of cases of bacteriuria in relation to the pregnancy and UTI conditions.*


#### **Table 4.**

*The distribution of cases of bacteriuria in relation to the pregnancy age and UTI.*

#### **Figure 1.**

*The percentage of isolated bacteria responsible for bacteriuria.*

in the third trimester 48.8% [22]. In contrast Buzayan [21], in this study the most frequent isolates were *Staphylococcus aureus* (31.2%), E.coli (25%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (18.9%), Enterococcus species (12.5%), *Streptococcus pyogenes* (6.2%) and Serratia marcescens (6.2%) (**Figure 1**), whereas another Libyan study found that the bacteriuria in pregnant women caused by E.coli 65.5% and Klebsiella pneumonia 20.7% [21], and Haddad found E.coli was most frequently isolated 41.5%, followed by *Staphylococcus aureus* 19.5% [22]. The result of this study agreed with that of Oyagade et al. who found that the microbiological culture of urine samples from 502 pregnant women resulted in the isolation of bacteria, which were *Staphylococcus aureus* 21.3%, E.coli 16.0%, Staphylococcus spp. 14.7% [19]. The most effective antibiotics tested on the isolated bacteria were gentamycin (GN) 87.5%, azithromycin (AZM) 75% and ciprofloxacin (CIP) 68.75%, and the less effective antibiotics were cephalexine (CL) 6.25%, and ampicillin (AMP) 12.5%. The results of this study agreed with other studies which stated that urine culture is the gold standard method of diagnosis for bacteriuria. It's shown that urine dipstick testing, urinalysis, and enzymatic urine screening tests can poorly detect all the culture positive bacteriuria cases in women [20, 23].

## **5. Conclusion**

The results of this work indirectly supported the hypothesis of an association of bacteriuria with age and gravidity. In addition, UTI appears to be multifactorial. A screening for bacteriuria in women especially pregnant women must be done to discover the infected cases, which would allow early treatment to avoid the complications.

## **6. Recommendation**

The most prevalent risk factors for UTI during pregnancy were poor personal cleanliness, a history of UTI, diabetes mellitus, and anemia. The study recommends training in personal hygiene and health education about the type and frequency of changes in underwear, the number of showers per week, the use of soap, and the use of water to wash genitalia, genital dries, the frequency of micturition, precoital washing, postictal washing, and precoital micturition.

## **Acknowledgements**

I would like to express my gratitude to the O&G seniors at the outpatient's clinic in the Al Zahraa teaching hospital for their great assistance in a achieving this research, along with al zahraa teaching hospital internal laboratory staff for their role in conducting GUE and urine culture for each participant in this study.

*Breakthrough Host Defense: UTI in Pregnant Women in Comparsion to Non-Pregnant DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98846*
