Do I need to be on an empty stomach for a urine test?

Urine test is a very common test in people's daily life. I believe everyone should know that when people are doing some tests, there will be some precautions. For example, some tests need to be done on an empty stomach. You cannot eat for a period of time before the test and can only drink some water, otherwise it may affect the accuracy of the test. So does a urine test require fasting? Let’s take a detailed look below.

It is best to collect fasting morning urine for routine urine examination, because urine specimens are easily affected by factors such as diet and medication, such as dietary diabetes or interference from medications such as vitamin C. The so-called morning urine is the first urine sample after getting up in the morning. Morning urine is mostly used for hospitalized patients. It is particularly suitable for screening of diabetes, diagnosis of urinary system diseases and observation of therapeutic effects.

Morning urine is a relatively concentrated and acidified specimen. Formed elements such as blood cells and casts are relatively concentrated and well preserved, which is conducive to the analysis of urine morphology and chemical composition. It is better for evaluating the concentrating ability of the kidney. However, morning urine stays in the bladder too long and is often prone to changes. At present, it is recommended to take the second urine sample in the early morning to replace morning urine. Outpatient patients can collect random urine. Random urine is not restricted by time, is easy to collect, and the sample is fresh and easy to obtain.

Things to note before urine test

1.1. Drinking water and eating do not affect the results of urine routine examination, so pregnant women can eat and drink water before the examination.

1.2. It is best to collect midstream urine. According to the order of urination, urine can be divided into the front section, middle section and back section. Because the first and second stream urine are easily contaminated, midstream urine is generally collected when doing urine routine and urine bacteriological examinations.

1.3. Urine should be collected in clean and dry containers, such as disposable urine cups and urine test tubes provided by the hospital.

1.4. Time to collect urine: Routine laboratory tests can be done at any time when urine is excreted. In order to observe the results before and after, kidney disease patients are generally required to use the first urine sample in the morning for testing.

1.5. The retained urine should be sent to the laboratory for examination as soon as possible, because if it is left for too long, problems such as glucose being decomposed by bacteria, tubular destruction, and cell lysis may occur, which will affect the accuracy of the test results. Therefore, when doing a routine urine test, paying attention to the correct standards for collecting urine samples is the key to ensuring the accuracy of the urine test results.

1.6. Urine specimens must be clean. Women should clean their vulva to avoid mixing in leucorrhea. If there are a large number of polygonal epithelial cells in the urine sediment, they may have been mixed into the leucorrhea, and it is advisable to collect a clean urine sample for re-examination.