Long-Term (10 to 14 Years) Follow-up of Bacteriuria of Pregnancy

Abstract

The rate of renal disease 10 to 14 years after an initial episode of bacteriuria of pregnancy was sought in 303 women, of whom 103 had been treated with sulfonamide, 100 had received placebo, and 100 had been randomly selected from the non-bacteriuric pregnant women studied in 1956 to 1960. Of the 192 women (63 per cent) located, 29 per cent of the sulfonamide-treated, 25 per cent of the placebo-treated and 5 per cent of the originally non-bacteriuric groups were bacteriuric at follow-up. Mean urinary osmolality was significantly lower in those who were bacteriuric at follow-up than in those who were not. Similarly, chronic pyelonephritis and other pyelographic abnormalities were more common in those who were bacteriuric at follow-up than in those without bacteriuria. Pyelographic evidence of chronic pyelonephritis occurred in 29 per cent of 41 pyelograms of women who were bacteriuric in pregnancy 10 to 14 years earlier, and there were two cases of necrotizing papillitis.