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Clinical Chemistry 50: 673-675, 2004; 10.1373/clinchem.2003.028589
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(Clinical Chemistry. 2004;50:673-675.)
© 2004 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Technical Briefs

What Is an Abnormal Test Strip Urinary Erythrocyte Concentration?

Paul Froom1,a, Rachel Etzion1 and Mira Barak1

1 Central Laboratory of Haifa and Western Galilee, Clalit Health Services

aaddress correspondence to this author at: Hematology Laboratories, Central Laboratory of Haifa and Western Galilee, Clalit Health Services, Nesher, Israel; fax 972-4-8209094, e-mail paulfr@clalit.org.il

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Although examination of urine for blood hemoglobin by automated analysis of test strips is a common, precise, and efficient method with a maximum throughput of up to 300 test strips per hour (1), the reference interval for this procedure is uncertain. Most laboratories consider only a negative result as normal, based on findings in referred patients and on population studies showing that urinary tract tumors and other serious diseases are found in those with even trace amounts of blood on test strips (2)(3)(4). In two population studies, test strips were positive for blood in 3% of men of all ages (3) and in 13% of those over 60 years (4). A few patients with blood in their urine were found to have urothelial malignancies, but most had only trace results on initial testing, with re-testing yielding intermittently positive results (3)(4); intermittently positive results may be attributable in part to variations from visual inspection by technicians and by patients themselves which is less sensitive and less precise than semiautomated reflectance readings of urinalysis dipsticks (5).

Our laboratory receives complaints from physicians about the high frequency of hematuria in their patients. We are unaware of previous studies reporting the distribution of results in a healthy population tested by semiautomated reflectance readings. Recent studies using a urine flow cytometer (UF-100) suggest that the number of RBCs in the urine in healthy individuals should be in the range of 10–20 cells/µL with even higher estimated counts on dipsticks, which also measure lysed cells (6)(7)(8). In the present study we analyzed the urine of 1000 men and women of various ages seen consecutively for screening examinations and . . . [Full Text of this Article]






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