Accuracy of urinary dipstick testing for pH manipulation therapy.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the accuracy of urinary dipstick testing for pH manipulation therapy.


METHODS
Three commercial brands of dipstick paper were used to measure the pH of 100 fresh urine specimens from patients with urologic diseases. These were all read by an experienced medical technician. The pH of these specimens was also measured with an electrochemical pH meter ("gold standard") performed by another experienced technician. Both were blinded to each other's results. The influence of urinary microscopic findings was also assessed. Student t test and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data.


RESULTS
The accuracies of the dipsticks for determining pH were as follows: 54.8% to 92.8% for less than 6, 45% to 97.5% for 6 to 7, 72.2% to 83.3% for greater than 7. One of the dipsticks assessed had the lowest accuracy for all three ranges. There was a statistically significant difference between the performances of the other two as compared with the least accurate one. There were no statistically significant differences between the two more accurate dipsticks. Urinary microscopic findings and other dipstick results did not influence results.


CONCLUSIONS
The targeted pH range for urinary pH manipulation therapy is 6 to 7. These results indicate that dipstick testing may be applicable to monitor patients on pH manipulation therapy and modify treatment when necessary. The accuracy of the device used for this purpose, however, must be determined before use.
Desai
Rahul A
RA
Department of Urology, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA. rdesai_711@yahoo.com
Assimos
Dean G
DG
D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D011934:Reagent Strips / Q000592:standards*
D011934:Reagent Strips