Urinalysis (cont.)

What is macroscopic urinalysis?

Macroscopic urinalysis is the direct visual observation of the urine, noting its quantity, color, clarity or cloudiness, etc.

Normal urine is typically light yellow and clear without any cloudiness. Obvious abnormalities in the color, clarity, and cloudiness may suggest possibility of an infection, dehydration, blood in the urine (hematuria), liver disease, breakdown of muscle or red blood cells in the body. Certain medications may also change the color of urine. Very foamy urine may represent large amounts of protein in the urine (proteinuria).

What is urine dipstick chemical analysis?

Urine dipstick is a narrow plastic strip which has several squares of different colors attached to it. Each small square represents a component of the test used to interpret urinalysis. The entire strip is dipped in the urine sample and color changes in each square are noted. The color change takes place after several seconds to a few minutes from dipping the strip. If read too early or too long after the strip is dipped, the results may not be accurate.

The squares on the dipstick represent the following components in the urine:

• specific gravity (concentration of urine),
  
  
• acidity of the urine (pH),
  
  
• protein in the urine (mainly albumin),
  
  
• glucose (sugar),
  
  
• ketones (products of fat metabolism),
  
  
• blood, leukocyte esterase (suggestive of white blood cells in urine),
  
  
• nitrite (suggestive of bacteria in urine),
  
  
• bilirubin (possible liver disease or red blood cell breakdown), and
  
  
• urobilinogen (possible liver disease).

Presence or absence of each of these color changes on the strip provides important clues for your doctor to make clinical decisions based on the urinalysis results.

Next: What are the pros and cons of dip sticks? »

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