Incidence of Pediatric Urinary Tract Infections Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is common in children, but the population incidence is largely unknown. Controversy surrounds the optimal diagnostic criteria and how to balance the risks of undertreatment and overtreatment. Changes in health care use during the COVID-19 pandemic created a natural experiment to examine health care use and UTI diagnosis and outcomes.

Objectives

To examine the population incidence of UTI in children and assess the changes of the COVID-19 pandemic regarding UTI diagnoses and measures of UTI severity.

Design, setting, and participants

This retrospective observational cohort study used US commercial claims data from privately insured patients aged 0 to 17 years from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2021.

Exposure

Time period

SUBMITTER: Liang D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10765266 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature