REASON FOR TESTING OF URINE ANALYSIS
Routine urine examination is commonly
done as a routine health examination. It can be ordered
specifically in certain conditions like:
- Pregnancy
- Painful and frequent urination
- Abdominal pain
- Blood in urine
- Fever
- Kidney disorders
Urine examination can be done repeatedly
in certain cases to monitor certain diseases and their outcome.
WHAT IS BEING TESTED
Urine is the most important excretory
product of body and is a window to the functionality of the human
body. Urine is formed after filtration of the blood in the
glomeruli of the Kidney. Hence it provide valuable information
regarding the overall health of patient. Routine examination
involves 3 basic examinations.
- Gross / physical examination
- Chemical screening
- Microscopic examination of the sediment
Each of the above examination are
further sub classified into basic examination as described below.
Gross
examination
- Colour
- Clarity
- Odour
- Specific gravity
Chemical
screening
- Urine pH
- Protein
- Glucose
- Ketones
- Blood
- Bilirubin
- Nitrite
Microscopic
examination
- Erythrocyte
- Leukocyte
- Epithelial cells
- Cast
- Crystal
INTERPRETATION OF URINE ANALYSIS TEST RESULT
| Albumin (Protein) |
Physiological-
- Physical exertion
- Pregnancy
- Heavy protein consumption
Pathological-
- Glomerulonephritis
- Bacterial infection
|
| Glucose |
Pathological-
|
| Ketone |
Pathological-
- Diabetes mellitus
- Starvation
- Diarrhoea
|
| Bilirubin |
Pathological-
- Liver disease
- Hepatitis
- Obstructive bile disease
- Cirrhosis
|
| Haemoglobin |
Pathological-
- Transfusion reaction
- Burn
- Haemolytic anaemia
- Renal disease
|
| Red Blood cell(RBC) |
Pathological-
- Renal stone
- Physical trauma
- Tumour
- Glomerulonephritis
|
| White blood cell (Pus cell) |
Pathological-
|
| Nitrite (Presence of bacteria) |
Pathological-
|
URINE ANALYSIS REFERENCE RANGE
Normal
values are as follows:
- Colour - Yellow (light/pale to dark/deep
amber)
- Clarity/turbidity - Clear or cloudy
- pH - 4.5-8
- Specific gravity - 1.005-1.025
- Glucose - < 130 mg/dL
- Ketones - None
- Nitrites - Negative
- Bilirubin - Negative
- Blood - <3 RBCs
- Protein - <150 mg/d
- RBCs - <2 RBCs/hpf
- WBCs - <2-5 WBCs/hpf
- Squamous epithelial cells - <15-20
squamous epithelial cells/hpf
- Casts - 0-5 hyaline casts/lpf
- Crystals - Occasionally
- Bacteria - None
- Yeast - None
