ANNALS OF CLINICAL AND LABORATORY SCIENCE, cilt.45, sa.6, ss.686-691, 2015 (SCI-Expanded)
Objectives. The microscopic and chemical analysis of urine is essential for the diagnosis of patients with urinary tract infections (UTI). Quantitative urine culture is the 'gold standard' method for the diagnosis of UTI, but it is labour-intensive and time consuming. The DongJiu 8602 is a new automated urinalysis system with dipstick and microscopy testing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the analytical and diagnostic performance of DongJiu 8602 in comparison to urine culture as the reference method. Methods. This retrospective study included 3970 urine samples, with a preliminary diagnosis of UTI and for which both urine analysis and urine culture were requested. Cut-off values for bacteria and white blood cells (WBCs) were determined by comparing the results with urine cultures. The cut-off values by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve technique, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated for microscopy and dipstick parameters (nitrite and leukocyte esterase). Results. Among the 3970 urine specimens submitted for culture, 3275 cultures (82.5%) were negative, and 695 were (17.5%) positive. The best cut-off values obtained from ROC analysis were 13/mu L for bacteriuria (sensitivity: 31.1%, specificity: 91.8%), and 31/mu L for WBCs (sensitivity: 48.6%, specificity: 85.9 %). We observed no significant difference between the area under the curves (AUC) of microscopy and dipstick parameters (p>0.05). Conclusion. According to our data, performances of microscopic and dipstick parameters of DongJiu 8602 were not satisfactory. Although, analytical sensitivity was improved slightly with combined assessment of microscopic and dipstick results for the lack of UTI, it did not achieve expected levels.