All issues > Volume 36(5); 1993

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1993;36(5):643-649. Published online May 15, 1993.

Comparative Evaluation of Biochemical and Microscopic Urinalysis in Pediatric

Hwa Jeong HJ Lee¹, Soo Young SY Lim¹, Seung hee Sh Mok¹, Heui Jeong HJ Kwon¹, In Sil IS Lee¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, National Police Hospital, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

The authors determined the value of performing urine microscopy on biochemically negative urine sepcimens in a pediatric population. The 746 urine specimens of patients who were either visited or admitted to the Department of Pediatrics, National Police Hospital, from March 1991 to July 1992 were reviewed on the basis of comparative evaluation of biochemical and microscopic urine analysis. Eight reactions of Clinitek 200 were used as biochemical indicators, namely, pH, nitrite, albumin, glucose, ketone, urobilinogen, bilirubin, and blood. Out of 746 urine specimens studied, 186 were true positive. Thirty-six specimens reacted biochemically in the absence of positive microscopic findings (false postive), 492 specimens were true negatives. Thirty-two specimens had negative biochemical indicators, in spite of positive microscopy. The sensitiviy of the biochemical parameters for predicting significant microscopy of urinary sediment is 85% and the specificity is 99%. The positive predictive value is 69.7% BS RGW BWFrucw oewsuxrucw Ckyw ua 99.3%. The sensitivity of blood for RBC is 94% and the specificity is 99%. The predictive value of a positive result is 84.6% and that of a negative result is 99.7%. We therefore conclude that ruine microscopy is less necessary in biochemically negative ruine specimens from asymptomatic pediatric patients, with hopefully resultant time and cost effectiveness.

Keywords :Pediatric population, Urinalysis, Time and Cost effectiveness