Microhaematuria in general practice: is urine microscopy misleading?

During a health centre screening programme for men aged 60 years and over, the urinary dipstick results of 58 patients found to have microscopic haematuria were compared with the results of immediate microscopy at the health centre and routine microscopy by a hospital laboratory. There was agreement between a positive dipstick test for haematuria and the presence of red cells at routine microscopy reported by the hospital laboratory in only 18 cases (31%). Routine urine microscopy results requested from general practice should not be taken as the criterion for deciding whether further investigation is needed in cases of microscopic haematuria.