Characteristics of urinary tract infection caused by coagulase-negative Staphylococcus in a group of young women.

Of 147 young women, aged 17 to 34 years, with signs, symptoms and bacteriological evidence of urinary tract infection (UTI), 23 (15.6%) had an infection caused by coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (coag- neg Staph). All patients with coag- neg Staph UTI were sexually active, in contrast to 84.7% of those with UTI of other causes (one-tailed P = 0.03). The former had a higher rate of vaginal discharge (60.9 vs. 25.8% in the latter group, P = 0.003), but fewer of them used tampons as menstrual protection or oral contraceptives. A high percentage of women with coag- neg Staph UTI had commenced sexual activity recently, as compared with the rest of the group (P = 0.03). In a stepwise logistic regression analysis, the only variables that were significantly associated with coag- neg Staph UTI were vaginal discharge and recent onset of sexual activity.