GLUCOSE - urine

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Specimen: Random urine collection, taken approximately 2 hours after a meal.

Method: Spectrophotometry or reagent strip.

Reference Interval: Not detected.

Application: Diagnosis of renal glucosuria. Previously used to assist patients with diabetes to monitor their treatment, but has now been largely replaced by blood glucose monitoring. Urine glucose testing has no place in the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus.

Interpretation: Glucosuria indicates that blood glucose levels are exceeding the renal threshold for reabsorption, which is normally at 10 mmol/L. Low renal thresholds can occur in otherwise normal individuals, in pregnant patients and in patients with proximal renal tubular disease (eg Fanconi syndrome); in such cases, glucose is present in the urine despite normal blood glucose levels. See also URINALYSIS .

Reference: Soler NG and Malins SM. Lancet 1971; 1: 619-621.

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