Urine tests are a part of routine diagnostic procedures. They offer valuable insights regarding your health and help detect various conditions such as kidney disease and urinary tract infections. If the doctor recommends a urine test, you must understand how to prepare for the procedure and the kind of results you can get from this test.
What is a Urine Test?
A urine test, termed urinalysis, helps analyze a urine sample and check various substances. It involves testing for the presence of glucose, blood, bacteria and protein. It can diagnose the following conditions.
- Kidney Disease
- Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
- Liver Problems
- Diabetes
- Dehydration
Kinds of Urine Tests
The doctor will recommend you a urine test based on your symptoms as well as the condition that they suspect. Some of the common urine tests have been mentioned below.
- Urine culture: If you are at risk of an infection, the doctor may suggest a urine culture test to identify the kind of bacteria causing the infection.
- Routine urinalysis: In this test, a urine sample is taken to check for signs of disease, including protein, glucose and abnormal pH levels.
- Pregnancy test: A urine pregnancy test determines the presence of hCG in the urine to check for pregnancy.
- 24-hour urine collection: For further analysis, patients might be asked to collect all the urine over a day. This helps measure creatinine and protein in the urine.
How to Prepare
In order to ensure an accurate result, you can follow these instructions after discussing them with the doctor.
- Stay hydrated: It’s essential to stay hydrated before taking a urine test unless the doctor asks you otherwise.
- Avoid some foods and medications: Some foods and medications can interfere with the results of the urine test. Hence, discuss what you can and cannot eat or have before the urine test.
- Clean collection: Make sure you clean the genital area before taking the urine sample as if you don’t, it can result in contamination.
- Timing: For first morning urine, the mid stream is recommended to be collected to ensure accurate results.
Understanding the Results
The results of the urine test will be determined based on the following factors.
- Colour: Healthy urine looks light yellow while dark or amber urine may suggest dehydration. On the other hand, red or pink urine may indicate the presence of blood.
- Specific gravity: This helps determine the concentration of the urine and the function of the kidneys.
- Glucose: Glucose in urine may indicate blood sugar or diabetes.
- Protein: The presence of protein in urine can be a sign of kidney disease.
- pH level: Abnormal pH level conditions may be an indication of infections or kidney stones.
Conclusion
A urine test will help you to better understand your health. If the doctor has suggested this test, you can get it done at our pathology center in Mukundapur for fast and accurate results.