# Urinalysis --- A **urinalysis** is a [[labs|lab]] that examines the contents of the [[urine]]. If there are solutes in it that we don't expect in the urine, that is often indicative of a disease, condition or injury. - **Specific gravity**: A healthy level is 1.003 to 1.035 (which can vary due to time of day, diet or exercise). This is also an indication of hydration—generally speaking the more hydrated you are the more urine you produce and the lower it's specific gravity. - A value below 1.010 indicates relative hydration, whereas a value above 1.020 indicates relative dehydration. - Osmolarity is along the same lines - [[Red blood cells]]: can indicate indicate damage to the kidneys, the glomerulus, or the presence of renal kidney stones. - Keep in mind it could be contamination from menstrual flow, which is why a clean catch is important. - [[White blood cells]]: WBCs in the urine can indicate a [[urinary tract infection]], acute glomerulonephritis, or contamination from the female reproductive tract. - [[Glucose]] - can indicate untreated [[diabetes mellitus]] - [[pH]]: A healthy pH of urine is from 4.5-8, with the average value being the slightly acidic pH of 6. - [[protein|Proteins]]: A small amount can be normal, but high amounts can indicate a lot of problems, like damage to the kidneys, presence of toxins, [[rhabdomyolysis]] from exertion (such as running a marathon), [[hypertension]], cold exposure or glomerular nephritis. - If we're looking specifically at albumin that indicates kidney disease - we also see this for [[preeclampsia]] - [[ketones]] - diabetes, and [[diabetic ketoacidosis]] ![[lab values for urinalysis.png]] ___