Urinary interleukin-8 in acute pyelonephritis of children: a before-after study.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to assess urinary interleukin-8 (IL-8) levels in pyelonephritis and its relation with the clinical course of the infection and of inflammatory changes detected by renal scintigraphy.


METHODS
In this quasi-experimental before-after study, we evaluated 91 children aged 1 to 144 months (mean 34.4 +/- 35.2 months) with pyelonephritis. Inflammatory markers including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, leukocyte count, and urinary IL-8, together with the results of ultrasonography, voiding cystourethrography, and dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scintigraphy were evaluated in these children. The ratios of urinary IL-8 to creatinine (IL-8/C) before and after the treatment were compared with each other.


RESULTS
Urinary IL-8/C levels were significantly higher after the empirical treatment in comparison with those before the treatment (0.19 +/- 0.21 versus 0.51 +/- 0.53, P < .001). No correlation was found between the urinary IL-8 levels and leukocyturia, urine culture results, other inflammatory markers, or findings of imaging examinations.


CONCLUSIONS
We found high urinary IL-8 levels in children with pyelonephritis. We also documented its increasing after the treatment. We conclude that evaluation of urinary IL-8 can be a noninvasive test for diagnosis of upper urinary tract infection and its response to treatment.
Mohkam
Masoumeh
M
Pediatric Infectious Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University (MC), Tehran, Iran. mohkamm@yahoo.com
Karimi
Abdollah
A
Karimi
Hossein
H
Sharifian
Mostafa
M
Armin
Shahnaz
S
Dalirani
Reza
R
Abdollah Gorgi
Fatemeh
F
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011704:Pyelonephritis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000652:urine*; D011776:Pyuria
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D016209:Interleukin-8; D003404:Creatinine