Seasonality of symptomatic bacterial urinary infections in women.
Bacterial infections of the female urinary tract (UTI) are a frequent clinical problem. A chance observation, supported by a one year survey reported from another country, suggested that UTI presented to the general practitioner more frequently in the summer. A retrospective survey, covering three consecutive years, was carried out to test this observation. The records of all women reported as attending this practice with a UTI showed that 213 culture positive episodes occurred in the third calendar quarter of each year. Edward's test for cyclic variation showed a significant peaking in August. These results indicate a definite seasonal fluctuation in the frequency with which symptomatic UTIs present to general practitioners in this practice. The clinical and epidemiological significance of this phenomenon remains to be determined.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*