Epidemiological Study of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Bacteriuria Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic in Baquba- Diyala Province

Background: Pregnancy causes many changes in the pregnant women, due to mechanical and hormonal changes which lead to ureteral dilatation and urinary stasis which contribute to the increased risk of developing urinary tract infection. Subject and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at Al-Batool Teaching Hospital in antenatal care clinic from March during October 2012 to study the epidemiology of symptomatic and asymptomatic bacteriuria among pregnant women. Results: out of 200 pregnant women who were included (24%) and (14%) with ≤20 years old age group were asymptomatic and symptomatic respectively, and (56%), (64%) were asymptomatic and symptomatic in age group 21-30 years old , while in those ≥ 31 years age group was (20%) and (22%) asymptomatic and symptomatic respectively. The asymptomatic bacteriuria was (77%) and it was higher among 31-40 weeks of gestation than other weeks of gestations (p= 0.006). The nulliparous was (27%) asymptomatic and (21%) symptomatic, where para1- para3 was (56%) asymptomatic and (65%) symptomatic and para4 and above was (17%) asymptomatic and (14%) symptomatic. Escherichia coli was (42.3%) more than other species. Conclusion: Urinary tract infections is a public health problem, Routine urine culture test should be performed on all antenatal asymptomatic and symptomatic pregnant women to identify unsuspected infection