Prevalence of microhematuria in renal colic and urolithiasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to investigate the prevalence of microhematuria in patients presenting with suspected acute renal colic and/or confirmed urolithiasis at the emergency department. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted to find relevant data on...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inBMC Urology
Main Authors Minotti, Bruno, Treglia, Giorgio, Maria Rosa Pascale, Ceruti, Samuele, Cantini, Laura, Anselmi, Luciano, Saporito, Andrea
Format Book Review
LanguageEnglish
Published Durham Research Square 08.07.2020
Subjects
Diagnostic tests
Kidney stones
Systematic review
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Background This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to investigate the prevalence of microhematuria in patients presenting with suspected acute renal colic and/or confirmed urolithiasis at the emergency department. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted to find relevant data on prevalence of microhematuria in patients with suspected acute renal colic and/or confirmed urolithiasis. Data from each study regarding study design, patient characteristics and prevalence of microhematuria were retrieved. A random effect-model was used for the pooled analyses. Results Forty-nine articles including 15’860 patients were selected through the literature search. The pooled microhematuria prevalence was 77% (95%CI: 73-80%) and 84% (95%CI: 80-87%) for suspected acute renal colic and confirmed urolithiasis, respectively. This proportion was much higher when the dipstick was used as diagnostic test (80% and 90% for acute renal colic and urolithiasis, respectively) compared to the microscopic urinalysis (74% and 78% for acute renal colic and urolithiasis, respectively). Conclusions This meta-analysis revealed a high prevalence of microhematuria in patients with acute renal colic (77%), including those with confirmed urolithiasis (84%). Intending this prevalence as sensitivity, we reached moderate values, which make microhematuria alone a poor diagnostic test for acute renal colic or urolithiasis. Microhematuria could possibly still important to assess the risk in patients with renal colic.