Catheter Associated Asymptomatic Bacteriuria (CAABU) Criteria

Criteria for catheter-associated asymptomatic bacteriuria:

(1) The presence of a urinary catheter.

(2) A urine culture with >= 10,000 cfu/mL (irrespective of number of species).

(3) One of the following:

(3a) absence of clinical findings associated with a urinary tract infection (UTI)

(3b) presence of one or more findings associated with a UTI which can be explained by another cause

Clinical findings that may be associated with a urinary tract infection:

(1) fever with temperature >= 37.8°C

(2) urgency

(3) frequency

(4) dysuria

(5) suprapubic tenderness

(6) altered mental status

(7) hypotension

where:

• The number of white blood cells in the urine seems to be ignored, which may not always be a prudent decision.

One conclusion of the study was that many patients with urinary catheters are unnecessarily treated with antibiotics.