Screening Urine Dipstick Testing in Patients at a Primary Healthcare Clinic in Mankweng Hospital, Limpopo Province

Urine dipsticks are a useful and easy bedside test. Screening all patients older than 60 years is costeffective for chronic kidney disease. However, there is no clear evidence that screening low-risk patients younger than 60 years is cost-effective. This study describes the results of screening dipstick urinalysis of patients at Mankweng Hospital’s Primary Healthcare Clinic. This was a descriptive survey. Urine dipsticks tests were conducted on patients attending the clinic. There were 227 participants. Of these, 153 (67%) were female and 74 (33%) were male. Urine abnormalities were found in thirty-five percent of the participants. Most (26%) of the abnormalities were found in the age group of 20-24 years. The abnormalities included haematuria (19%), pyuria (12%), proteinuria (4%), ketonuria (11%), glycosuria (3%), nitrites (3%) and urobilinogen (0.4%). There was no significant association between urine abnormality and age. More females had urine dipstick abnormalities. More than a third of all the participants in this clinic-based survey had abnormal urine dipstick results.