Asymptomatic Bacteriuria and Leukocyturia in Type 1 Diabetic Children and Young Adults

In the study of Geerlings et al. (1), one of five type 1 diabetic women had asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB). In the few studies of diabetic children a low prevalence of ∼1% was found (2–4). Our clinical experience suggested a much higher prevalence; therefore, we decided to estimate the prevalence and possible risk factors of ASB in type 1 diabetic children. There were 178 (86 male) type 1 diabetic children and young adults (age 15.1 ± 5.9 years) with diabetes duration of 6.2 (3.0–10.1) [median (interquartile range)] years who participated in this study. The control group consisted of 194 (103 male) school children/medical students (14.4 ± 5.1 years). After careful cleaning, midstream voiding morning urine samples were collected and immediately cultured on 2 consecutive days. ASB was defined as the presence of ≥105 colony-forming units/ml of one and …