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Urinalysis
(Urine Test)

Medical Author:

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Dr. Nabili received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), majoring in chemistry and biochemistry. He then completed his graduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His graduate training included a specialized fellowship in public health where his research focused on environmental health and health-care delivery and management.

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Medical Editor:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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What is a urinalysis?

A urinalysis is simply an analysis of the urine. It is a very common test that can be performed in many healthcare settings including doctors' offices, urgent care facilities, laboratories, and hospitals.

It is performed by collecting a urine sample from the patient in a specimen cup. Usually only small amounts (30-60 ml's) may be required for urinalysis testing. The sample can be either analyzed in the medical clinic or sent to a laboratory to perform the tests. Urinalysis is abbreviated UA.

Urine can be evaluated by its physical appearance (color, cloudiness, odor, clarity), or macroscopic analysis. It can be also analyzed based on its chemical and molecular properties or microscopic assessment.

Urinalysis is ordered by doctors for a number of reasons, as follows:

• Routine medical evaluation: general yearly screening, assessment before surgery (pre-operative assessment), admission to hospital, screening for kidney disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension (high blood pressure), liver disease, etc.
  
  
• Assessing particular symptoms: abdominal pain, painful urination, flank pain, fever, blood in the urine, or other urinary symptoms.
  
  
• Diagnosing medical conditions: urinary tract infection, kidney infection, kidney stones, uncontrolled diabetes (high blood sugars), kidney impairment, muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), protein in urine, kidney inflammation (glomerulonephritis).
  
  
• Monitoring disease progression and response to therapy: diabetes related kidney disease, kidney impairment, lupus related kidney disease, blood pressure related kidney disease, kidney infection, protein in urine, blood in urine.

What can urinalysis results show?

Urinalysis can disclose evidence of diseases, even some that have not caused significant signs or symptoms. Therefore, a urinalysis is commonly a part of routine health screening.

Urinalysis is also a very useful test that may be ordered by your physician for particular reasons. Urinalysis is commonly used to diagnose a urinary tract or kidney infection, to evaluate causes of kidney failure, to screen for progression of some chronic conditions such as diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure (hypertension).

It also may be used in combination with other tests to diagnose some diseases. Examples of this include kidney stones, inflammation of the kidneys (glomerulonephritis), or muscle break breakdown (rhabdomyolysis). Additional tests and clinical assessment are often required to further investigate findings of urinalysis and ultimately diagnose the causes or specific features of underlying problems. For example, urine infection is generally diagnosed based on results of urinalysis. However, urine culture is often ordered as a follow-up test to identify the bacteria that may be causing the infection.