Urine Colour

by Dr Mike Cadogan, last update April 20, 2019

Normally, urine is some shade of yellow with acid urine usually a darker colour than alkaline urine. Pathologically, it may be any colour.

1	2
Colour	Causes
Green	Drugs: Cimetidine, Promethazine, Amitriptyline, Flutamide, Indomethacin, Methocarbamol, Methylene blue, Mitoxantrone, Propofol, Phenylbutazone, Triamterene Condition: Hartnup Disease, Indicanemia, Indicanuria Infection: Pseudomonas Infection Dyes: Carbolic Acid, Flavine derivatives, Indigo Blue, Methylene Blue, Resorcinol Other: Clorets, Listerine, Magnesium Salicylate, Asparagus Cases: Verdant waste - How Green is my urine
Orange	Drugs: Idarubicin, Ferrioxamine, Oxamniquine, Phenazopyridine, Rifampicin, Sulfasalazine, Warfarin Food/supplements: Carotenes, B-complex vitamins, Senna, Rhubarb, Beets and blackberries Condition (hypercarotenemia): Diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, porphyria Case: Where are the lemons?
Red	Stones: (calculi in the renal pelvis, ureter or bladder) Malignancy— TCC, RCC, Wilms Trauma—blunt or penetrating trauma to the abdomen or pelvis; a catheter will commonly cause haematuria. BPH is a common cause of intermittent gross haematuria Renal: Primary renal disease (e.g. glomerulonephritis; including IgA-related, membranous, mesangiocapillary, focal and minimal change). Renal disease associated with / due to / secondary to systemic vasculitis (e.g. SLE, polyarteritis nodosa), Papillary necrosis secondary to analgesic nephropathy or diabetic nephrosclerosis. Hereditary (e.g. Alport’s syndrome). Infection: Pyelonephritis, UTI, pyonephrosis, cystitis, prostatitis, TB, schistosomiasis Coagulopathy: Anticoagulation, Inherited defect (e.g. haemophilia, Von Willebrand’s), Acquired defect (e.g. DIC, thrombocytopenia).
Red-Brown	Drugs: Levadopa, nitrofurantoin, metronidazole Condition: Rhabdomyolosis (myoglobinuria), bile pigment Other: Fava beans Case: Mahogany Myoglobinuria
Purple	Infection: Bacteria such as Providencia stuartii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and enterococcus species. Condition: Hartnup Disease, Indicanemia, Indicanuria Case: Tyrian Rage
Black	Drugs: Stimulant laxatives (e.g. cascara, senna) Condition: Alkaptonuria, methemoglobinuria Other: Melanin Case: Black Urine Case - Brown/Black urine
Milky	Pyuria Case: Pyuria

References and Links

Critical Care

Compendium

Related

About Dr Mike Cadogan

Emergency physician | medical informatics | medical education/textbooks. Asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. | @sandnsurf | LinkedIn

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

×