Teach you how to read urine routine

Author: Chen Zhou Shanghai Changhai Hospital

Reviewer: Mei Xiaobin, Chief Physician, Shanghai Changhai Hospital

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Hello everyone, I am Dr. Chen Zhou from the Department of Nephrology. Today I would like to tell you how to read the urine routine examination report by yourself.

What is a urinalysis?

Urinalysis is a very simple and very useful examination method. It can reflect the condition of your kidneys and urinary system by analyzing the components in your urine. If you have kidney disease or other urinary system diseases, there will be some abnormal components in your urine, such as protein, red blood cells, white blood cells, etc. These abnormal components are the indicators we should focus on.

How to do a urine routine test?

Urinalysis is actually very simple. It is to collect a cup of your urine, then soak something called a test strip in your urine, and then see what color it will turn into. Different colors represent different indicators, reflecting what is in your urine.

There are many small squares of different colors on the test strip, and each small square corresponds to an indicator. When the test strip is soaked in urine, the small squares will change color according to the components in the urine. Then we can refer to the color chart to determine whether each indicator is normal or abnormal.

In fact, it is very simple to go to the hospital for a routine urine test. Collect fresh urine, put it in a test tube, and hand it directly to the laboratory. The results will be available in about 30 minutes.

How to understand urine routine test?

It is not difficult to understand the urine routine test. As long as we grasp the key points of the urine routine test, it is very easy to understand. Now I will teach you how to understand the urine routine test step by step.

Regarding urine routine, the following three indicators need to be paid attention to most:

1. Protein : Normally it is negative. If "+" appears, it indicates possible proteinuria. Don't be too anxious. It may be physiological or transient, or there may be kidney disease. Therefore, you need to do urine routine test several times. If it is persistent proteinuria, it is recommended to further do 24-hour urine protein quantification or urine PCR test.

2. Urine occult blood : Negative is normal, and "+" indicates possible hematuria. Further analysis is needed based on the results of urine sediment under a microscope to see whether there are red blood cells.

3. Urine white blood cells : The normal reference value is <5/HP, >5/HP indicates urinary tract infection. Sometimes urine nitrite will also be positive at the same time. If there are more typical symptoms such as "frequent urination, urgency, and pain when urinating", urinary tract infection should be considered.

The above three indicators are important indicators to reflect whether there is any problem with your urinary system. If any of your indicators are abnormal, you need to consult a professional nephrologist in time to develop a suitable treatment plan.

Other indicators of urine routine

In addition to the three indicators mentioned above, there are some other indicators that can also reflect the condition of the urinary system, but they are not very important. We can take a brief look at them.

1. Urine sugar : Normally negative, a positive result indicates possible diabetes and requires further glucose tolerance test.

2. Urine ketones : If a diabetic patient has a positive result, he or she needs to retest blood sugar or blood ketones to rule out ketoacidosis! If you do not have diabetes, you may also have a positive result when you are fasting and hungry, so don't worry about it.

3. Squamous epithelial cells : A slight increase is usually not very meaningful, because under normal circumstances, epithelial cells will fall off. If the number of squamous cells increases abnormally in the elderly, further urinary system ultrasound is needed to rule out tumors.

These indicators are indicators that reflect your other physical conditions. If any of your indicators are abnormal, you need to pay attention to whether you have other related diseases or factors, such as diabetes, diet, medication, etc.

Finally, we summarize the indicators that need to be focused on in urine routine examination into a table for your reference.

Let’s take a look at this example.

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From this urine routine report we can see:

1. If the protein is +, it means there is proteinuria and further urine protein quantitative test is needed.

2. Urine red blood cells are 25 to 28/HP, indicating hematuria.

3. If the urine is full of white blood cells, it means there is a urinary tract infection. You need to pay attention to whether there are symptoms of urinary tract irritation and low back pain to further determine the site of infection.

4. Urine glucose and urine ketone bodies are both negative, indicating that there is no diabetes.

In summary, this urine routine report indicates urinary tract infection, combined with hematuria and proteinuria. After active anti-infection treatment, the patient's reexamination indicators are all normal. Hematuria and proteinuria are considered to be caused by urinary tract infection. If you have similar abnormal urine routine, it is recommended that you consult a professional nephrologist in time to develop a suitable treatment plan.

Okay, that’s all for today’s science popularization. I hope you can learn some useful knowledge from it. If you find this article helpful, please leave a message in the comment area.