What is a urinalysis?

 Urinalysis:

A urinalysis is a series of tests on your urine or pee. Doctors use it to check for signs of common conditions or diseases. Its other names are urine test, urinalysis and UA.

Why performs a urinalysis?

You may have a urinalysis as part of a routine check-up of your overall health, such as during your annual physical. A urinalysis is one way to detect certain diseases at an early stage. They include:

·         Kidney Disease

·         Liver Disease

·         Diabetes

If you are preparing for surgery or are about to be admitted to the hospital, your doctor may want to test your urine. A urinalysis can also be part of a pregnancy test.



If you have symptoms of kidney or urinary tract problems, you may need tests to help find the problem.

You can also have this test regularly if you have a medical condition, such as kidney disease, that requires long-term observation.

How does a urinalysis work?

There are three ways to analyze urine, and your test may use all of them.

One is a visual inspection, checking for color and clarity. If you have blood in your pee, it may be red or dark brown. Foaming can be a sign of kidney disease, and cloudy urine could mean you have an infection.

Microscopy examines things that are too small to see otherwise. Some things a microscope can find that shouldn't be in urine include:

Red Blood Cells

White Blood Cells

Bacteria

Crystals (mineral clumps that may be a sign of kidney stones)

The third part of the urinalysis is the dipstick test, which uses thin, chemically treated strips of plastic. It soaks into your urine, and if levels are higher than normal, the chemicals on the stick react and change color. What a dipstick test can check includes:

Acidity or pH. If the acid is not normal, you may have kidney stones, a urinary tract infection (UTI), or other medical conditions.

protein. This may indicate that your kidneys are not working properly. The kidneys filter waste from the blood.

glucose. High sugar levels are a hallmark of diabetes.

white blood cells. These are signs of infection or inflammation, whether in the kidneys or anywhere else in the urinary tract.

Nitrite. This means infection with certain kinds of bacteria.

Bilirubin. If this waste product is normally eliminated by the liver, it may mean that your liver is not working properly.

Blood in the urine. Sometimes this is a sign of an infection or certain diseases.

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