Pronounced yoor-in-AL-ih-sis
Also known as Urine test, Urine R/E, Dipstick test
Urinalysis is examination of the urine — by dipstick, under a microscope, or by culture. It is a quick, cheap test that reports on the kidneys, the urinary tract and sometimes on conditions well beyond them.
The dipstick is a strip of reagent pads, each changing colour in response to one substance, read after a fixed interval. Microscopy then looks at what is suspended in the sample — red cells, white cells, bacteria, crystals and casts — and a culture, where indicated, grows any organism present and tests which antibiotics it responds to.
| Finding | Commonly suggests |
|---|---|
| Nitrites and leucocytes | Bacterial |
| Protein | — kidney damage, or transient causes |
| Blood sugar above the kidney's reabsorption threshold | |
| Blood | Infection, stones, or bleeding anywhere in the tract |
| Ketones | Fasting, vomiting, or uncontrolled |
A dipstick is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. Asymptomatic bacteria in the urine are common in older adults and in pregnancy, and outside pregnancy they are usually not treated — treating a dipstick rather than a patient is a well-recognised route to unnecessary antibiotics and .
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