Frequency of asymptomatic bacteriuria in preeclampsia.

Asymptomatic bacteriuria has a reported prevalence of 4 to 7% during pregnancy. Preeclampsia has been reported to increase susceptibility to infection; therefore, the authors examined asymptomatic bacteriuria (greater than 100,000 colonies/mL of urine) as a possible marker for host resistance in preeclamptic pregnancies. One hundred preeclamptic primigravidas at term were compared with 100 nonpreeclamptic primigravidas undergoing primary cesarean section and 100 multigravidas undergoing elective repeat cesarean section. Urine cultures were obtained by bladder catheterization. A significant difference (P less than .005) in the rate of asymptomatic bacteriuria was found in patients with preeclampsia (19%), when compared with that of primigravid (3%), or multigravid (6%) control subjects. Preeclamptic patients with bacteriuria had significantly lower total serum protein and albumin than preeclamptic patients without bacteriuria (P less than .001).