Urine tests measure specific substances in your urine, such as electrolytes, proteins, and bacteria. These tests can reveal a lot about your health, particularly when gradual changes or big jumps outside normal ranges occur.
Your body uses urine to remove toxins, excess water, and other substances. But urine can also reveal information about your overall health and well-being.
How well your body filters out toxins and other wastes and what substances show up in your urine can tell a doctor a lot about how well your body’s systems are working. Issues relating to your kidneys, liver, pancreas, or heart can all be flagged by an abnormal urine test result.
This article reviews what kinds of things routine urine tests check for, as well as normal and abnormal test ranges, and what these results might indicate.
Urine tests reveal a lot of information about you. The color, odor, and clarity of urine can indicate kidney health or even signal an infection. A more detailed analysis of the substances in your urine can give other clues about how well your different organ systems are functioning.
Each body system uses a specific formula of minerals or solutions — called electrolytes — to trigger and regulate activity. Different substances play bigger roles in different areas of your body. For example, potassium can have a critical effect on heart function, while your muscles use calcium and magnesium.
Many electrolytes and minerals your body uses for regular functioning can serve a purpose in one area and cause a problem in another. Balance is essential, and any change in the normal range of these substances can lead to serious symptoms.
A urinalysis is a basic urine test that measures the amounts of different substances in your urine. Seeing where your results fall in — or outside of — the normal range of values can tell a doctor a lot about how well your body is working overall or what body system might be responsible for symptoms you may be having.
Below is a list of common urinalysis tests by type and what kinds of problems doctors might use them to identify.
Visual inspection
A simple visualization of a urine sample involves inspecting its color and clarity. Cloudy or discolored urine can indicate an infection or various problems with your metabolism.
Microscopic exam
In microscopic urinalysis, medical professionals examine a small sample of urine under a microscope for abnormal crystals, bacteria, or cell types. Infections and kidney problems are the most common problems identified with these tests.
Dipstick test
A dipstick test uses a reactive strip of paper that will change color in the presence of certain substances. These tests can be tailored for different purposes, but doctors often use them to check things such as:
- protein or glucose levels
- pregnancy and hormone levels
- drug ingestion
Albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) test
The uACR test measures the balance of your body’s primary protein type (albumin) and a waste product that comes from your muscles (creatinine). How much of these two substances make it into your urine can provide a lot of information about how well your kidneys are filtering toxins and other substances from your body.
Microalbumin test
The microalbumin test is a more detailed version of the uACR test. The presence of smaller albumin proteins in your urine might indicate more than just a general problem, but rather a specific diagnosis. Trace amounts of these small proteins can be found in people with conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Urine culture
A urine culture uses a sample of urine that medical professionals observe for bacterial growth over a few days. Doctors usually use these tests to identify specific types of bacteria and tailor antibiotic treatment when you have an infection such as a urinary tract infection (UTI).
24-hour urine test
This test collects all the urine you produce over a 24-hour period, stored in multiple containers and kept cool until testing. This collection can give your doctor information they can use to help diagnose conditions such as lupus, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Medical experts have established estimated normal ranges for almost every substance in your body, from blood to sodium. Too much or too little of anything can lead to problems. If your test results fall within the normal range, doctors assume you’re in overall good health.
Gradual changes over time — even within a normal range — or big jumps to values outside of normal ranges can give a doctor reason to take a closer look at different body systems and how well they’re working.
Normal ranges of electrolytes, cell types, and other substances that can be analyzed in urine samples are listed below.
| Substances analyzed | Normal ranges |
|---|---|
| 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid | 2 to 9 milligrams (mg) per 24 hours |
| albumin | less than 25 mg |
| albumin-to-creatinine ratio | less than 30 mg albumin per gram (g) of creatinine per 24 hours |
| aldosterone | 5 to 19 micrograms (mcg) per 24 hours |
| alpha-amino nitrogen | 100 to 290 mg per 24 hours |
| amino acids | 200 to 400 mg per 24 hours |
| amylase | 1 to 17 units per hour |
| beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) | less than 2 milli-international units per 24 hours |
| calcium | • less than 250 mg per 24 hours (for those assigned female at birth) • less than 300 mg per 24 hours (for those assigned male at birth) |
| citrate | 250 to 1,000 mg per 24 hours |
| copper | 0 to 100 mcg per 24 hours |
| coproporphyrin | 50 to 250 mcg per 24 hours |
| cortisol | 4 to 50 mcg per 24 hours |
| creatinine | • 0 to 100 mg per 24 hours (female) • 0 to 40 mg per 24 hours (male) |
| dopamine | 65 to 400 mcg per 24 hours |
| epinephrine | less than 20 mcg per 24 hours |
| estriol | greater than 12 mg per 24 hours |
| magnesium | 14 to 290 mg per 24 hours |
| norepinephrine | 0 to 100 mcg per 24 hours |
| osmolality | 38 to 1,400 milliosmoles (mOsm) per kilogram (kg) of water |
| oxalate | less than 40 mg per 24 hours |
| pH | 4.5 to 8 |
| phosphorous | 500 to 1,200 mg per 24 hours |
| protein | less than 100 mg per 24 hours |
| protein-to-creatinine ratio | less than 0.2 mg per 1 mg of creatinine |
| sodium | varies |
| urea nitrogen | 12 to 20 g per 24 hours |
| uric acid | 250 to 750 mg per 24 hours |
| uroporphyrin | 10 to 30 mcg per 24 hours |
Results that fall outside of the normal range on urine tests can mean a lot of different things. For certain electrolytes, the desired range for you could depend on what medical conditions you have, your age, and other factors.
Some “red flag” results on urine tests may include:
| Red flag results | What these results might indicate |
|---|---|
| dark colored urine | bleeding, liver disease |
| foul odor | infection |
| fruity odor | diabetic ketosis |
| low specific gravity | kidneys overdiluting urine (releasing too much water into the urine) |
| high specific gravity | kidneys overconcentrating urine (too little water) |
| glucose | greater than 1,000 mg per deciliter (dL) may indicate diabetes, pregnancy, gestational diabetes |
| ketones | presence in urine is abnormal, may indicate diabetes |
| albumin | presence is abnormal, may indicate kidney disease |
| protein | presence is abnormal, may indicate kidney disease |
| bilirubin | presence is abnormal, may indicate bleeding disorders or liver disease |
| amylase | increased level over 24 hours may indicate pancreatitis or pancreatic diseases |
What is rapid dipstick urinalysis?
A rapid dipstick urinalysis uses treated paper that changes color when exposed to a test substance. You can use this kind of test to get a quick result on a particular substance. People often buy them over the counter to use at home to check for things like glucose, infections, pregnancy, or drug ingestion.
A doctor may have access to higher quality and more accurate rapid dipstick tests. They may order one as part of a general wellness exam or to check for a possible UTI or other medical concerns.
What illnesses can be detected from a urine sample?
A urine sample is enough to diagnose a UTI. Other than that, the results of a urine test may indicate that there may be an underlying health problem, but they’re not enough to confirm a diagnosis.
However, urine samples are helpful in the diagnostic process for conditions like:
- cancer
- diabetes
- infections
- kidney disease
- kidney stones
- metabolic disorders
- stroke
What infections show up in urine?
Urine tests can reliably detect UTIs. They can also usually detect certain bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), like gonorrhea and chlamydia. A urinalysis can also often detect the presence of a yeast infection.
What cancers can be detected in urine?
As of 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved urine tests to check for cancer biomarkers for bladder and prostate cancer. However,
- biliary tract
- breast
- cervix
- colon or rectum
- endometrium
- head and neck
- kidney
- liver
- lung
- ovaries
- pancreas
- stomach
- thyroid
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For virtually all substances in your body, there are normal ranges. Levels that are too high or too low may indicate a health issue.
Urine tests can provide useful information about your health, depending on whether your results fall within or outside the normal range of values. For some substances, such as protein, the very presence in your urine is a cause for concern or, at the very least, additional testing.
Talk with a doctor about your urine test results or to find out when rapid home tests helpfulbe useful. These at-home tests can give you limited, but quick, results. A more detailed analysis usually requires a microscopic analysis.