Hematuria has many different causes.
- Blood in the urine can come from any condition that results in infection, inflammation, or injury to the urinary system.
- Typically, microscopic hematuria indicates damage to the upper urinary tract (kidneys), while visible blood indicates damage to the lower tract (ureters, bladder, or urethra). But this is not always the case.
- The most common causes in people younger than 40 years of age are kidney stones or urinary tract infections.
- These may also cause hematuria in older people, but cancers of the kidney, bladder, and prostate become a more common concern in people older than 40 years of age.
- Several conditions causing hematuria may exist at the same time.
- Some causes of hematuria are serious, others are not. Your health-care provider will perform tests to help tell the difference.
The well-known causes of blood in the urine include the following:
- Kidney stones
- Infections of the urinary tract (UTIs) or genitals
- Blockage of the urinary tract, usually the urethra: by a stone, a tumor, a narrowing of the opening (stricture), or a compression from surrounding structures
- Cancer of the kidney, bladder, or prostate
- Kidney disease
- Blood-clotting disorders
- Injury to the upper or lower urinary tract, as in a car accident or a bad fall (especially falls onto your back)
- Medications: antibiotics (for example, rifampin [Rifadin]), analgesics such as aspirin, anticoagulants (blood thinners such as warfarin, [Coumadin]), phenytoin (Dilantin), quinine (Quinerva, Quinite, QM-260)
- Benign (noncancerous) enlargement of the prostate known as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), a common condition in older men
- Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and sickle cell anemia
- Viral infections
- Inflammation of the kidney, usually of unknown cause
- Strenuous exercise, especially running, results from repeated jarring of the bladder. In one study, 24% of runners who competed in an ultra-long-distance marathon had hematuria after the race. The hematuria disappeared within seven days. A 20% incidence has been found in marathon runners.
Sometimes no cause is found for blood in the urine.
- If serious conditions such as cancer, kidney disease, and other chronic diseases that cause kidney damage or bleeding are ruled out, the cause is usually not serious.
- The hematuria will probably go away by itself or continue as a chronic condition without doing harm. Any changes should immediately trigger a return visit and evaluation by your health-care provider.
Urine can be colored pink, red, or brown for reasons that have nothing to do with bleeding in the urinary tract:
- Foods: beets, berries, and rhubarb in large amounts
- Food colorings
- Medications: Different medications can change your urine color (Phenazopyridine [Pyridium], a pain reliever affecting the lower urinary tract, can change urine color to orange.).
- Menstrual blood or vaginal bleeding that is mistaken for hematuria
- Liver diseases: These may also be very serious causes of discolored urine.
- Read more at http://www.emedicinehealth.com/blood_in_the_urine/page2_em.htm
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