Urine research
By studying clinical and laboratory parameters, it is possible to identify abnormalities or hidden pathology. Urine contains sodium chloride, urea and some components, their amount affects the person’s condition and test results.
Don’t think that bad urine is an indicator of a disease. Together with urine, salts, toxins and other organic matter are removed from the body. However, if any abnormalities are detected through analysis, the doctor will prescribe a more extensive study to detect negative changes in the urinary system - kidneys and other organs.
Preparatory stage
If the patient does not adhere to the rules for collecting urine, this may make the results of laboratory tests biased. When collecting liquid, it is advisable to follow these instructions:
- Only the morning portion of urine is taken, immediately after sleep;
- before collecting the material, a hygienic toilet of the external genitalia is carried out;
- the first stream is drained into the toilet, and the rest into a jar, about 100 milliliters, no more;
- the jar must be sterile, but it is better to purchase the container at the pharmacy or take it from the laboratory.
Such simple steps allow you to count on high-quality diagnosis and proper treatment.
When a bad indicator is not a disease
During the collection and research process, common errors may occur:
- improperly collected urine sample;
- poor preparation for the study, for example, the use of products with dyes on the eve of urine collection;
- long transportation leading to the proliferation of bacteria and fungi;
- incorrectly conducted research, recording the parameters of another patient.
In this case, the resulting indicator is not a disease. Therefore, doctors often prescribe a repeat study of distorted data.
Bad urine may indicate a testing error or the presence of a disease. A general clinical examination helps the doctor and the patient to identify the true cause of pathological symptoms. Receive interpretation and treatment from the attending physician.
Researcher at the Laboratory for the Prevention of Reproductive Health Disorders of Workers at the Research Institute of Occupational Medicine named after. N.F. Izmerova.
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Correct collection of material
During the preparation procedure for collecting biological material, you should adhere to the following instructions:
- Before collecting urine one day, refrain from drinking any alcoholic beverages and limit the amount of fluid consumed.
- The analysis will not be objective if the patient had strength training the day before or visited a sauna.
- Exclude from the menu foods that affect the color of urine (sweet, salty, fatty, smoked, beets, carrots).
- Do not take vitamins or diuretics during the day.
- Do not collect material during an infectious disease or inflammatory processes after hypothermia.
- Women should wait until their periods are over.
Ignoring such basic requirements will cause bad urine, as the laboratory will receive low-quality material. If the patient doubts the correctness of collecting his fluid, then in order to establish an accurate diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment, he should talk with a doctor in order to collect other biomaterial, following the necessary recommendations.
During pregnancy
A separate point why a woman may have bad tests is pregnancy. There are several reasons. Most often, women during pregnancy suffer from hematuria, leukocyturia and proteinuria (the presence of protein in the urine).
During the gestation period, as the fetus grows, the enlarged uterus constantly puts pressure on the organs of the genitourinary system, which ultimately leads to stagnation of urine and, as a consequence, to various inflammatory processes in this system. This means that there is a high probability of developing not only pathologies of the lower urinary tract, but also of the upper urinary organs.
Therefore, a urine test for pregnant women is prescribed very often, especially if the obstetrician-gynecologist has any suspicions. It is extremely important that a pregnant woman follows all the doctor’s instructions, tries to undergo all examinations and is attentive to her health after childbirth, since this period is no less important.
Main features
Bad urine has deviations from basic standards. When contacting a specialist, this type of examination is mandatory. Diagnostics reveals pathologies of internal organs and the urinary system. The doctor pays close attention to the following criteria:
- Change in color of biological material.
- Structure of urine.
- Biomaterial density.
- Acid-base balance.
- Is there protein, leukocytes, acetone and red blood cells and in what quantities?
- Presence of fungi and bacteria.
Doctors are concerned about results that are significantly deviated from the norm. This indicates a pathological process in the human body.
pH reaction
Normally, the urine of an adult will have a neutral or slightly acidic reaction. It must be said that the pH of urine also depends on a person’s diet. If he eats mainly plant foods, the reaction will shift towards alkaline (up to 8.0). If he prefers animal protein, the reaction is more acidic (about 4.5).
An acidic environment is more favorable for the proliferation of pathogenic microflora. Why acidification of urine often indicates the development of inflammatory processes in the body.
Color
When processing the material, the specialist pays attention to the color of the released liquid. Healthy urine has a light yellow tint. Any change in color indicates a malfunction in the body. For example:
- Dark urine indicates poisoning, disease of the circulatory system and liver.
- A red tint or clots of this color indicate the presence of blood in the urine. This usually happens with inflammation of the renal pelvis, bladder, pyelonephritis and bladder cancer.
- A color reminiscent of meat slop is very bad urine, which indicates a severe form of glomerulonephritis, tuberculosis and kidney infarction.
Urine analysis helps to identify many abnormalities that raise doubts about the health of the body. It is important to exclude secondary factors such as medication and poor nutrition before collecting urine.
By “bad” we mean a urine test with serious changes
By “bad” we mean a urine test with serious changes; what could they be?
- 1. Changes in urine color.
Urine has a straw-yellow color and can be light, dark, pink or red.
It is impossible to make a conclusion based only on the color of urine, because this indicator is also influenced by other parameters (see below).
Changes in urine with hematuria
Even the presence of blood in the urine (hematuria) is difficult to visually determine.
Products in your diet can give your urine a pink tint.
These products include beets, carrots, and some medications.
Meanwhile, hematuria is an alarming symptom.
For example, blood in a urine test in men can be one of the symptoms of urolithiasis, trauma, inflammation in the urethra and bladder, as well as in the kidneys.
Oncological diseases of the genitourinary system, tuberculosis.
In the case of true hematuria, the level of red blood cells in the urine is increased.
Normally, there are no more than 0-1 of them in the field of view.
If hematuria becomes visible to the naked eye in the analysis, then such urine is called urine the color of meat slop.
This coloration of urine is characteristic of severe kidney diseases such as glomerulonephritis.
Urine the color of dark beer
Sometimes the color of the urine may change to a darker color and the urine may resemble dark beer or strong tea.
This may be a sign of serious liver diseases such as hepatitis, cirrhosis, and cancer.
This requires immediate identification of the cause and initiation of therapy.
In addition, dark or black urine can be detected in conditions such as alkaptonuria, hemolytic anemia.
Darkening of urine is possible in the presence of kidney cancer.
Colorless urine
Colorless urine is most often due to high water intake.
Often the cause of discoloration is a decrease in the concentration function of the kidneys.
This happens when:
- 1. Diabetes mellitus
- 2. Urolithiasis
- 3. Kidney failure
- 4. Liver pathologies
It happens that seminal fluid enters the urethra.
In such cases, the urine may foam a little.
Greenish urine
A change in urine color from yellow to green is not always a sign of serious pathology.
Urine may take on a green tint when eating spinach, asparagus, pistachios, green apples, and black licorice.
In such cases, therapy is not required.
It is necessary to wait until the product is completely processed and the body is cleansed from it.
Important! This rarely happens, so if your urine changes color, consult a doctor immediately!
Green urine color may indicate diseases of such organs as:
- Liver
- Gallbladder
- Urinary tract
- 2. Change in urine clarity.
Such conclusions as a result of the analysis, such as “cloudy” or “slight turbidity,” should serve as a reason for a closer examination of the urine.
The transparency of urine is changed by components such as excess mucus, bacteria, leukocytes and other inclusions.
Increased salt concentration
If a laboratory diagnostics doctor sees that the urine is cloudy, he will conduct a series of tests to determine which salts the content is increased.
The following types of salts are distinguished:
- 1. Urats
- 2. Phosphates
- 3. Carbonates
- 4. Uric and oxalic acids
Urine with a high salt content should be considered suspended urine.
Such a suspension subsequently becomes a favorable factor for the formation of stones in the urinary tract.
This is how kidney stones or nephrolithiasis develop.
- 3. Specific gravity fluctuations.
Specific gravity is a measure of the relative density of urine.
This parameter indicates how correctly and fully the kidneys function.
Mainly, specific gravity reflects the concentrating ability of the kidneys.
Sometimes a high specific gravity is a symptom of long-term glomerulonephritis.
If this indicator is below 1.003, they speak of a decrease in the relative density of urine.
This may indicate diuretic use and thirst.
This phenomenon is also observed in renal failure.
A specific gravity over 1.028 indicates kidney disease, dehydration, and urinary retention.
- 4. Change in acidity.
This indicator is important in the diagnosis of kidney diseases and metabolic disorders, since there is a normal pH of urine: 4.7-8, the reaction is acidic.
A pH shift of more than 8 can occur both with increased protein nutrition and physical activity, and with certain diseases.
Diabetes mellitus (simultaneously with the appearance of glucose in the urine) and dysfunction of the thyroid gland, systemic diseases.
Alkalinization of urine occurs when plant products predominate in the diet.
This is typical for chronic urinary tract infections, prolonged fever, and tuberculosis infection.
The acidity of urine is determined using special indicator strips.
As acidity increases, the strip changes color to red.
When alkalized, the strip turns blue.
In addition to this method, you can use an ionometer to determine the concentration of certain ions.
This is a more accurate and convenient way.
Emergency conditions such as dehydration, diarrhea, ketoacidotic coma, profuse diarrhea can cause acidosis - a pH shift towards increased acidity.
As a rule, this indicator rarely indicates certain diseases.
Often, with increased urine acidity, ketone bodies, metabolic products that appear in the above pathological conditions, are also found in it.
- 5. Increased protein levels in urine.
If not traces of protein are found, but protein directly in the urine, glomerulonephritis or pyelonephritis should be suspected.
An increase in protein levels in the urine is called proteinuria.
Protein in urine has the right to be only in low, trace quantities.
If the value exceeds 0.33 g of protein per liter of urine, we can talk about proteinuria.
In addition, the presence of protein in the urine occurs when:
- Hypertension
- Blood diseases
- Oncology
- Prolonged fever
- Transplant rejection reactions
Proteinuria can occur during physiological conditions such as prolonged vertical position, hypothermia, prolonged exposure to the sun, and serious stressful situations.
Acidity
On the analyzer forms there is such an abbreviation - pH. This is an indicator of acidity. A weak acidic environment is taken as the norm, and it ranges from 4 to 6 pH. Its indicators are affected by food, acid-base balance, and dehydration.
The reasons for a poor urine test may be a decrease in potassium content in the blood, as well as ureaplasmosis, kidney failure, cancer and diabetes. It is these diseases that reduce the acidity of urine.
Specific gravity
This characteristic is one of the most important in urine analysis. Specific gravity indicates the specific density of the fluid and reflects how well the kidneys filter the blood.
Normal indicators:
- In adults: 1012-1025.
- In children: 1004-1005.
During the day, this indicator fluctuates depending on the amount of water drunk and food eaten.
Diagnostic criterion: the presence of glucose and protein in the urine, which exceed the specific gravity of urine.
Leukocytes
The appearance of several cells in the test fluid is considered normal. These are a kind of “sentinels” that check the condition of organs for cancer or infection. If we exclude secondary factors (taking certain medications and insufficient hygiene of the genital organs during sampling), then there will be a lot of leukocytes in bad urine in cystitis, urethritis, appendicitis, pyonephrosis, renal cysts, rheumatoid arthritis.
Hemoglobin
The presence of this element in the blood outside the normal range is called hemoglobinuria in medicine. Among the internal factors that provoke the disease are: influenza, pneumonia, sore throat, scarlet fever, blood transfusion. External ones include: poisoning, injury, hypothermia, burns.
When biological material has been collected, an analysis has been done, and the results show that there are deviations from the norm, it is worth conducting a more in-depth study of bad urine. The doctor will tell you in more detail why this happened.
