24 hour urine sample

What is 24 hour urine sample?

Twenty four hour urine sample collection is a process, where the urine of a person is collected over a period of 24 hours.

Here, a container will be given to you to collect urine sample according to the directions given by the doctor or lab technician.

Twenty four hour is a long period for a sample to sustain, so you will be required to keep the sample in a refrigerator or in a cool place, so that sample doesn’t get spoiled.

How is it taken?

Normally, after waking in the morning people tend to go directly to the toilet to void urine. You don’t need to collect that urine, empty your bladder completely and do remember to note the time. After that, for twenty four hours collect the entire urine in container provided by your doctor or lab technician. At the completion of 24 hours, go to the washroom and add your last urine sample into the container, here also note the time. Bring the urine sample to the laboratory for further work-up.

During this entire 24 hours collection period, even if you forget to collect the urine sample one or two times, tell your doctor or lab technician about this, so that they can give you further instructions.

What is the reason behind collecting 24 hour urine sample?

The reason behind 24 hour urine sample collection is that random urine sample collection doesn’t give the desired results sought by the doctor. Because substances in the urine do not remain the same during the 24 hours and doctor might want other substances to show up during this period.

This 24 hour urine sample gives broad picture of the substances present in the urine, based on this doctor gets a better idea of what is happening in your body.