Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) continue to be the global leading infection among primigravidas
with over 50% of them suffering at least one incidence of UTI during their course of pregnancy.
In Arua at Oli Hospital, there is no study that has been done to determine the indicators of UTI
using point-of-care testing among primigravidas. Therefore, this study intended to determine
the indicators of UTI using point-of-care testing among primigravidas attending antenatal care
at Oli Health Center IV in Arua City. This was a prospective descriptive cross-sectional study
involving a sample size of 138 respondents. Data was collected using a self-generated
questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. In this study of 138 participants, the
majority 83(60.1%) of the respondents were aged 20-30 years. Results revealed that nitrites
were present in 62(44.9%) urine samples whereas leukocytes (+++) were present in 65(47.1%)
of the urine samples. The prevalence of urinary tract infections among primigravidas was
51.4%. It was found that 62(92.5%) of the symptomatic respondents had lower abdominal pain,
more than three quarters 57(85.1%) of the symptomatic respondents had painful urination
more than a quarter 22(32.8%) of the symptomatic respondents had a frequency of urination,
less than a quarter 12(17.9%) of the symptomatic respondents had forceful urination more
than three quarters 58(86.6%) of the symptomatic respondents had abnormal PV discharge,
twenty-eight (41.8%) of the symptomatic respondents had urgency for micturition while more
than three quarters 54(80.6%) of the symptomatic respondents had burning sensation on
urination. Based on the study findings, we concluded that both nitrites and leukocytes were
key indicators of urinary tract infections. The clinical presentations of urinary tract infections
were lower abdominal pain, painful urination, frequency of urination, forceful urination,
abnormal PV discharge, urgency for micturition and burning sensation on urination. The
researchers recommended that health workers routinely carry out proper clerkship and
dipstick tests for appropriate diagnosis of urinary tract infections among primigravidas.