Clinical Significance of Urobilinogen in Urine
Urinary urobilinogen may be increased in the presence of a hemolytic process such as hemolytic anemia. It may also be increased with infectious hepatitis, or with cirrhosis.
Comparing the urinary bilirubin result with the urobilinogen result may assist in distinguishing between red cell hemolysis, hepatic disease, and biliary obstruction, as shown in the table below:
Hemolytic disease
| Negative
| Increased
|
Hepatitic disease
| Positive or negative
| Increased
|
Biliary obstruction
| Positive
| Normal*
|
*Urine chemical reagent strip methods cannot distinguish normal urobilinogen from absent urobilinogen, as might be seen in complete biliary obstruction.
