What causes high white blood cell count in children’s urine test?

When children go to the hospital for a physical examination, a routine urine test is essential. There are many items in a routine urine test, including the white blood cell level test. Under normal circumstances, there are no white blood cells in human urine, or there will be a very small amount of white blood cells. If the white blood cell count in the urine is high, it is abnormal. At this time, we should consider disease factors such as cystitis and renal tuberculosis based on the child's condition.

What causes high white blood cell count in children’s urine test?

Urinary leukocytes are white blood cells that normally exist in the blood, but due to some reasons, some white blood cells are mixed into the urine to form urine leukocytes. Normal people's urine contains a small amount of white blood cells. Generally speaking, the number of white blood cells in microscopic examination of sedimented urine will be less than 1 per high-power field of view. When the number of white blood cells in microscopic examination of clean midstream urine sediment is greater than 5/high-power field of view, leukocyturia can be diagnosed.

Urinalysis white blood cell test is a test to check the white blood cells among the three types of cells in urine routine examination. Experts pointed out that normal people’s routine urine examination will not contain white blood cells, red blood cells, proteins and other substances. If white blood cells are present, it indicates a urinary tract infection and further examination is needed to confirm the condition.

White blood cells are an important line of defense in the human body's defense system. When an infection occurs, the number of white blood cells will increase rapidly. The degree of bacterial infection is proportional to the increase in the number of white blood cells. The most common infection is urinary tract infection, such as urethritis, cystitis, pyelonephritis, etc.

A normal person's morning urine may contain a very small amount of white blood cells. This is a normal phenomenon and there is no need to worry too much. However, if a routine urine examination shows that the white blood cell count is high, it indicates a urinary tract infection and further examination should be conducted to confirm the condition. Because urinary tract infection is divided into upper urinary tract infection and lower urinary tract infection. Upper urinary tract infection refers to pyelonephritis, and lower urinary tract infection refers to urethritis and cystitis.

Compared with urethritis and cystitis, pyelonephritis is more harmful. Pyelonephritis indicates that the patient's kidneys have substantial damage, and it can be divided into acute pyelonephritis and chronic pyelonephritis. If patients with acute pyelonephritis are not treated promptly or are treated improperly, resulting in repeated attacks of the disease, it is very likely to deteriorate into chronic pyelonephritis. The kidney damage caused by chronic pyelonephritis is irreversible. If not treated properly, the kidney damage will further worsen. In severe cases, it is likely to develop into renal failure or uremia, endangering the patient's life.