As people pay more and more attention to health, many people have a copy of their own physical examination report. This report includes many routine checkup items, among which urine routine, blood routine and stool routine are the most basic checkup items, which are called the “three routine items”. Urine routine is the most common test, which not only reflects the function of the kidneys, but also is an indicator to evaluate the metabolism of the body. We can’t help but ask: Since urine routine is so important, but we are not doctors ourselves, how can we understand it? How can we know if the urine we take every day is normal? And what do the symbols in the urine test mean? Don’t worry, today we will explain the routine urine test in detail, to ensure that you can read the routine urine yourself in the future. How to collect urine correctly? Before doing the test, it is important to understand the correct way to collect urine. If the method is not correct, the results of the test may produce errors and therefore mislead the clinician’s diagnosis. Collection is usually done with a clean and dry container, most commonly a disposable urine cup. Avoid contamination of the urine cup and urine during collection. About 10-30 ml of urine should be retained for the examination, and do not drink a lot of water and coffee or strong tea before the examination. (1) Send the test within the specified time. Collected urine should be sent for examination within half an hour, and no later than 1 h. (2) Collect morning urine. Urine collection is generally best with the first urine in the morning, sometimes it is difficult to do, and random urine is acceptable. (3) Collect the middle section of urine. When collecting, leave the middle section of urine, and do not collect the urine at the beginning or near the end. Of course, sometimes it is specifically ordered to collect the beginning urine and the end of the urine for diagnostic purposes. (4) Avoid menstruation. Clean the vulva before collection. It is best to clean the urethral orifice before retaining urine in circumcised men and turn up the foreskin when retaining urine; when retaining urine in female compatriots, avoid the menstrual period so as to prevent the mixing of vaginal secretions. What is the meaning of the symbols on the checklist? Nowadays, hospitals are using automated analysis instruments for testing, so many hospitals can print out their own urine routine tests. When we get the report sheet, there are many symbols on it, such as ↑ means the indicator is elevated and ↓ means the indicator is decreased. The +, – and on the lab sheet represent positive, negative and weakly positive respectively. The number of + represents the change in quantity. For example, +, ++ and ++++ indicate a gradual increase in the degree of positivity. How do I read a routine urine report? Routine urine test sheets generally include urine color, specific gravity, acid-base (PH) value, protein, red blood cells, white blood cells, urobilinogen, bilirubin, glucose, ketone bodies, nitrite and vitamin C. 1. Color and pH, what can they indicate? (1) Urine color: The color of normal urine should be clear and light yellow, and when drinking more water, the urine is colorless and transparent like plain water. If you drink less water, the color of urine will be yellow like beer. If the urine appears red, soy sauce colored, milky white, etc., you must pay high attention to it. There are many diseases that can cause abnormal urine color, such as tumor, liver disease, urinary tract infection, celiac disease, etc. Especially if middle-aged and elderly people have painless carnal hematuria, tumor disease must be ruled out first, even if it occurs only once, it should not be taken lightly. (2) PH value of urine: The PH value of urine is about 6,5, PH value changes with daily diet composition and fluctuates between 4,5 and 8,0. The urine is acidic when you eat a lot of meat and alkaline when you eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. Infection, gout and drug metabolism can affect the PH value of urine. 2, diabetic patients should pay special attention to ketone body and glucose (1) ketone body: normal is “-” negative. Diabetic patients need to pay special attention to this item, if the blood sugar control is not good, this item will be positive “+”. It should be noted that a “+” will appear if the specimen sent for testing is not fresh, and a “+” will also appear if you are too hungry at the time of the test. (2) Glucose: This is also an item that requires special attention for diabetic patients, with a normal “-” negative. + means positive. The higher the +, the higher the glucose level in the urine. The use of some drugs, such as aspirin, salicylic acid, streptomycin, etc. may present pseudo-diabetes. 3, can indicate liver disease of the two indicators urine bilinogen normal for “-” negative. If the report is “+”, it is positive, mostly seen in liver disease and blood diseases, such as hemolytic jaundice, acute hepatitis, sericea, etc. Bilirubin: Normal is “-” negative. Positive “+” is abnormal, mostly seen in hepatopancreatic diseases, such as cirrhosis, blockage jaundice, etc. 4.What happened to the red cells and white cells in the urine? (1) Red blood cells: This refers to the number of red blood cells in the urine. During a routine urine examination, more than 3 red blood cells in the urine is called hematuria. Depending on the severity, it can be divided into visual hematuria and microscopic hematuria. If the hematuria is red, blood-like or has blood clots when observed with the naked eye, it is called visual hematuria. If it is not visible to the naked eye, it is called microscopic hematuria. There are many reasons for the appearance of hematuria, and the main common ones are stones, infections, injuries, tumors, immune diseases, etc. We need to pay special attention to hematuria, and if it occurs, we should find out the cause as soon as possible. In addition, it is not necessarily hematuria just because the urine is red. This is because the color of urine can be affected by food, medical operations and medications. For example, women retain urine during their periods; bleeding from hemorrhoids or near the urethra is mixed into the urine; and it can be mistaken for a positive result after a urethral intubation, cystoscopy or gynecological examination. Taking rifampin can make the urine red. (2) Leukocytes: negative is normal, if “+” or the value exceeds the reference value, it indicates a urinary tract infection. If the infection is more serious, “++” or “++++” will appear. 5.If protein and nitrite are present in the urine? (1) Protein: This is what we often call urine protein, normal is negative. If this item is positive “+”, it means that there may be nephritis, nephropathy, normal people may also appear positive after strenuous exercise. (2) Nitrite: negative is normal, positive can be seen in urinary tract infections, if too much vitamin C or nitrate-rich food will appear false positive. 6, some other indicators (1) specific gravity: the normal value range is 1, 015-1, 025. in the body when the body is dehydrated urine specific gravity increased, and vice versa decreased. (2) Vitamin C: reflect the body’s vitamin C intake, has no significance to the diagnosis of the disease. In addition, there are some indicators such as tubular: normal urine routine examination generally can not see tubular, occasionally visible a few transparent tubular. If there is red blood cell tubular pattern, granular tubular pattern, etc., it often indicates nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and other renal pathologies. Epithelial cells: None is normal. The normal value is 0 to a small amount, and an increase is seen in urinary tract infections. The health “code” in urine We normally need to discharge 1-2L of urine every day, if there are symptoms such as frequent urination, urgent urination and incomplete urination, it may be caused by genitourinary system infection or bladder lesion. Every time you urinate, you should pay attention to the color and smell of the urine, because these are the “codes” given to us by the body, and through this information, many diseases can be detected early. Normal urine has an ammonia odor due to the decomposition of urea. If it smells like rotten apples, it may be a sign of diabetes. If there is a lot of foam in the urine, it may be because there is a lot of protein in the urine, indicating the possibility of kidney disease or high blood pressure or diabetes. A simple routine urine report has so many hidden mysteries. I believe that after reading this, you should be able to understand the routine urine report. If there are any abnormalities, you should promptly ask the hospital for further examination. We should not only pay attention to the daily urine situation, but also the stool should not be ignored. The next issue we will bring you teach you to understand the laboratory test sheet of the stool routine (if any).