The impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on urinalysis parameters

Creatinine elevation and changes in urinalyse parameters may be seen due to acute kidney injury during COVID-19. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the changes in urinalysis of COVID-19 patients with normal kidney function.

The data of COVID-19 patients with normal renal functions were retrospectively analyzed. Urinalysis parameters of these patients were recorded. The patients were divided into three groups as mild, moderate and severe with respect to the clinical course of the disease. It was examined whether the urine analysis values in the groups were different from normal reference values and whether these values were different between the groups. In addition, possible relationship between the urinalysis parameters and the clinical severity of the disease was investigated.

There are three groups; mild (N.=40), moderate (N.=38) and severe (N.=42). Mean age were significantly higher in the severe group, while gender distribution of the groups was similar (P=0.033, P=0.091) Creatinine values of all patients were normal. There were 6.7% glucose positivity, 13.4% protein positivity, 5.8% urobilinogen positivity and 7.5% ketone positivity in urine dipstick analysis and these changes were all significantly higher than the reference values (P=0.008, P<0.0001, P=0.016, P=0.016). Pyuria and hematuria were detected in 8.3% and 9.2%, respectively. The urinalysis parameters and urine microscopy findings were not affected by the severity of the disease.

Glycosuria, proteinuria, pyuria and hematuria may occur during COVID-19 disease, regardless of comorbidity and renal dysfunction. However, these urine parameters were not correlated with the severity of the disease.