Urine Routine & Microscopy
A urine dipstick and microscopy answer three common questions at once: is there an infection, is protein leaking from the kidneys, and is there blood or sugar that should not be there.
This is an educational reading aid, not a diagnosis and not medical advice. Reference ranges differ between laboratories — always read the range printed on your own report. Nothing here can see you, your history or your medicines. Do not start, stop or change any treatment on the strength of this page: take your report to a qualified doctor.
Reference ranges reviewed by Dr. Mohan Gayenlast reviewed
Your values
Fill in only the ones on your report. Anything you leave blank is simply skipped.
How concentrated the urine is.
How acidic the urine is; relevant to some kinds of kidney stone.
White cells in the urine — the microscopy counterpart of the leukocyte dipstick.
Red cells in the urine.
Enter one or more values and your reading will appear here.
What the dipstick pads mean
A dipstick is a screening test. Every positive listed here is interpreted alongside symptoms, and several need a confirmatory test.
| Pad | Expected | If positive |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | Negative / trace | Needs quantifying with an albumin-to-creatinine ratio. Persistent protein is one of the earliest signs of kidney damage in diabetes and hypertension. |
| Glucose | Negative | Suggests blood sugar above the level the kidney can reabsorb — usually around 180 mg/dL. Check blood glucose; a few people spill sugar at normal levels. |
| Ketones | Negative | Seen in fasting, low-carbohydrate diets and vomiting. Ketones WITH high blood sugar may mean diabetic ketoacidosis — that is an emergency. |
| Blood | Negative | Needs microscopy to confirm real red cells, and then a doctor. Never ignore it, even once. |
| Leukocyte esterase | Negative | White cells present. Supports infection when there are symptoms. |
| Nitrite | Negative | Fairly specific for bacterial infection when positive — but many organisms do not make nitrite, so a negative does not rule infection out. |
| Bilirubin / urobilinogen | Negative / normal | Points towards liver or bile-duct disease and should prompt liver function tests. |
What this panel is easy to get wrong
- A dipstick showing leukocytes or nitrite is not by itself a urinary infection. Infection is diagnosed from symptoms plus the dipstick, and confirmed on culture — treating an abnormal dipstick in someone with no symptoms is usually wrong.
- Blood in the urine of an adult is never something to watch and wait on by yourself, even once, even painless — especially painless. It needs a doctor.
- A midstream sample, collected cleanly, avoids most false positives. Menstruation contaminates the sample.
- Protein on a dipstick should be quantified — usually with a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio — before it means anything.
Where these ranges come from: Standard dipstick and microscopy reporting conventions.
Where this is written from: This site is written from Indian clinical practice. Drug availability and brand names, vaccination schedules, national health programmes and some reference cut-offs differ between countries — a schedule or a threshold that is standard here may not be standard where you are. If you are reading outside India, check anything on this page against your own country’s guidance before you act on it.
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Protein, sugar, blood, ketones, nitrite and the cells under the microscope.