Association Between The Frequency Of Disposable Diaper Changing And Urinary Tract Infection In Infants

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 11 Feb 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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UroToday.com - A study from Japan looked at the frequency of diaper changing in relation to urinary tract infection. The theory behind this study was that, typically, diapers are changed mostly at the time of defecation. Diaper changing just with urination seems to be a less frequent occurrence based on anecdotal observations.

A total of 131 children were studied with urine samples. These children all had temperatures greater than or equal to 38 degrees C. The ages ranged from 2 months to 2.5 years. The authors investigated the number of times diapers were changed daily in each of the patients. Of the 131 infants, 3 cases were excluded. The remaining 128 patients were divided into 2 groups. The first group was without urinary tract infections and numbered 96, while the second group had urinary tract infections and numbered 32. The authors found that those without urinary tract infections had their diapers changed 7.5 times on average per day, while those with urinary tract infections were changed 4.7 times per day. Their analysis showed that this was statically significant. They felt that based on these studies, those infants wearing disposable diapers had an increase risk of UTI as the frequency of diaper changing decreases.

Although colonization might play a role in developing a urinary tract infection, typically the frequency of urination will correlate more along with constipation than typically just diaper changing itself. It would be interesting to see how many of those children were potty trained and how often they were voiding per day. Also it would be of interest if some of these children who were approaching 2-2.5 years of age, although if they were not potty trained, could be exhibiting some early effects of self potty training with bladder holding. It would also be interesting to delineate if these children who are only being changed 4.7 times per day on average are truly bladder holders and emptying less than those that are changed 7.5 times per day. The bladder holding, regardless of age, should correlate more with urinary tract infection than just changing diapers alone.

Sugimura T, Tananari Y, Ozaki Y, Maeno Y, Tanaka S, Ito S, Kawano K, Masunaga K
Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2009 Jan;48(1):18-20.
doi:10.1177/0009922808320696

Written by UroToday.com Medical Editor Pasquale Casale, MD

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