16.1. Introduction

Urinalysis is the physical, chemical and microscopic analysis of urine. In the preoperative setting, it may be used to detect urinary tract infections, renal diseases and poorly controlled diabetes. The test is safe with no known risks. However, it is uncertain whether the test provides valuable information in asymptomatic individuals, and other more specific tests may be used to diagnose and monitor diabetes and renal disease. In addition, the clinical effectiveness of routine preoperative urinalysis is uncertain.

See section 4.4 for a summary of the methodological approach taken for this preoperative test.

16.2. Delphi survey results

As no new evidence on the use of urine dipstick tests as a routine preoperative test was identified during the scoping phase of this guideline it was decided not to carry out an evidence review, but to include urinalysis in the modified Delphi survey to re-evaluate the consensus held amongst health professionals on the value of routinely conducting the test prior to elective surgery.

The survey participants were asked if urine tests (urine dipstick) should be used as a routine preoperative test for patients undergoing elective surgery. Participants rated their response from strongly disagree to strongly agree using a nine-point Likert scale. Each question was considered to have reached consensus if greater than 70% of responses were in a single category (0–3 strongly disagree, 4–6 unclear, 7–9 strongly agree). Please see Appendix L for full details on the survey method and results.

16.3. Economic evidence

Unit costs were provided for consideration alongside the Delphi survey results. Please see Appendix M for details. These are reported in Table 146 and Table 147 below.

Table 146

Unit cost of urine test (using dipstick).

Table 147

Unit cost of urine test (using urinalysis analyser).

16.4. Recommendations and link to evidence