Comparison of three automated systems for urine chemistry and sediment analysis in routine laboratory practice

Urine analysis is an essential component of patient assessment, used in screening, diagnosis, and the planning of care. Automated urinalysis systems can save labor and time, and are valuable in high-volume laboratories. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of three automated urinalysis systems--Iris iQ200 (AX-4280), the Sysmex UF-1000i (Urisys 2400), and the UriSed LabUMat.

A total of 412 urine samples sent for urinalysis were assessed using all three automated systems.

Correlation between the three instruments, represented as results within one grading unit showed an overall concordance level of more than 80% for chemical urinalysis systems. When we compared microscopy features, red blood cell detection correlation was best between the iQ200 and UriSed instruments (92%). The UF-1000i and iQ200 data on white blood and epithelial cell counts were optimally correlated (86% and 90%, respecttively).

The three automated urinalysis systems demonstrated acceptable correlations in chemical data between instruments. However, whereas the automated microscopy units could be used for initial screening, some manual microscopy was still necessary.