The relative incidence of detrusor instability and bacterial cystitis detected on the urodynamic‐test day

Objective To determine whether patients with detrusor instability (DI) were more likely to have bacterial cystitis or significant bacteriuria on the urodynamic‐test day than were women with a stable bladder. Patients and methods A catheter specimen of urine was cultured (overnight in air) from 862 consecutive women at the time of urodynamic testing. The upper urinary tract was imaged, with cystoscopy when indicated, to exclude upper tract lesions or malignancy. The percentage of patients with pure idiopathic DI and those with mixed DI/genuine stress incontinence (GSI), in whom the urine culture was positive, was compared with the percentage who had a stable bladder (pure GSI or urodynamically normal) and a positive urine culture, both for the entire dataset and for women aged > or