The Prevalence of Urinary Tract Infection among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at Atertiary Care Centrein AlRass, Al Qassim

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common bacterial infection during pregnancy affecting women of any age. It may affect primigravida as well as multigravida women, and it may be symptomatic or asymptomatic. If not treated properly and adequately, the outcome of pregnancy may be abnormal. This cross-sectional study was conducted during the year 2014 to determine the prevalence of UTI among pregnant women admitted to the antenatal clinic (ANC) at the tertiary care centre at Al Rass in Qassim region of Saudi Arabia and to examine the relation of factors such as age, gestation week, presence/absence of urinary complaints and obstetric status with UTI. This study assumed significance as there is no evidence of similar studies having been carried out in Qassim region. Data of 479 patients was collected from the medical records of the hospital by using consecutive sampling. The influence of the above mentioned factors on the prevalence of UTI was examined using Chi Square test. Results showed that UTI was significantly prevalent (6.9 %) among the sample patients. Age and Gestation week appeared to have a significant relation with UTI, while obstetric status has no influence on it. It also appeared that symptomatic UTI was more common than asymptomatic UTI.