BACKGROUND
Dipstick urinalysis (DU) utilizes a reagent strip as a diagnostic chemical examination of the urine to determine the pathological changes in the urine that may result from a systemic and/or a metabolic disease and/or the diseases of the kidney and the urinary tract. DU is cheap, non-invasive, easy and quick to perform, widely available, and can be done by the bed-side.
OBJECTIVE
Unfortunately, DU is undervalued in sub-Saharan Africa because clinicians are ignorant of its diagnostic values and the broadness of its usefulness
METHODS
For each of the common ten (pH, specific gravity, glucose, ketone, protein, blood, nitrite, leucocyte esterase, bilirubin and urobilinogen) analytes detectable by DU, this article reviews the pathophysiology of each analyte; it describes the principle of the chemical reaction for each analyte; it summarizes the interpretation of the test result and the possible causes of false positives and false negatives for each test. In addition, the article underscores the usefulness of DU in aiding the management of prematurity, pneumonia, diarrhoea, sepsis and malaria, the common childhood killer diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.
RESULTS
This article should arouse the interest of clinicians working in developing countries to see DU as an invaluable diagnostic tool in resource-constrained settings of the world
CONCLUSIONS
It is expected that the clinicians working in developing countries will see this article as a quick reference guide when interpreting DU results of the child under their care