FAQs
What is the urine pH?
Urine pH is an indicator of the acidity or alkalinity of the urine, and provides information about our body’s general state of health. The average pH value is around 6.2. However, due to its oscillating behaviour, it may vary from 4.5 to 8, depending largely on diet, waste products, metabolic disorders and other causes.
What is the importance of urine pH in urology?
Urine pH is an emerging factor in daily clinical practice as it is related to a variety of chronic urological conditions, such as renal stone, calcification of urinary stents, urinary infection, overactive bladder and painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis.
How is urine pH currently controlled?
There are currently two options to control urine pH: using a test strip or a laboratory pH-meter. The first are broadly questioned by the medical community for their low accuracy and reliability for making clinical decisions; while the second lacks the portability necessary for the urine pH measurement to be taken on fresh urine that has been recently passed, which has the physiological value.
The importance of the pH in urinary health
Urine pH is a measurement of its acidity and reflects the metabolic activity of the body, and monitoring this is as important as its correction, especially in certain situations in which this balance and the maintenance of health may be disrupted, and could induce: the formation of kidney stones, infections of the urinary tract, painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis and overactive bladder, calcification of urinary stents or urinary catheters, etc.
How can urine pH affect the formation of kidney stones?
- If there are crystals in the urine, and the urine pH is above 6.2, the conditions are conducive to the formation of infection-induced or calcium phosphate stones, or calcium oxalate stones induced by calcium phosphate.
- If there are crystals in the urine, and the urine pH is below 5.5, the conditions are conducive to the formation of cystine, uric acid or calcium oxalate stones induced by uric acid.
- In certain situations, or without a change of the pH, the simple existence of crystals and the lack of physiological inhibitors to this crystallisation, could induce the formation of kidney stones
A correct control of the urine pH will reduce the risk of the formation of kidney stones.