Prevalence of Urinary Tract Infection in a Pregnant Women at Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

Introduction: Urinary tract infection is frequently encountered as well as the most popular extra-intestinal disease in women of all ages worldwide especially women of the reproductive age group (15-44 years) are the most vulnerable population. The aim of the study is to find out the prevalence of urinary tract infection among pregnant women of reproductive age.

Methods: The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of a tertiary care centre among pregnant women of the reproductive age group presenting with symptoms of Urinary Tract Infection from 11 December 2023 to 15 October 2024 after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee. Convenience sampling technique was used to collect data. The collected data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2016 and analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics version 22. Point estimate and 95% confidence interval were calculated.

Results: The prevalence of urinary tract infection was 300 (46.15%) [42.33%–49.97%, 95% Confidence Interval], the majority 198 (66%) were in the age group 20-30 years. The majority of 185 (61.67%) women suffered from urinary tract infection during the second trimester of pregnancy, more among primigravida 208 (69.33%). Urinary tract infection cases were more 175 (58.33%) with 0-5 pus cells per high power film and 178 (59.33%) showed Escherichia coli.

Conclusions: The prevalence of urinary tract infection was found high among study participants and in Nepalese women in comparison to the previously reported literature in Nepal.