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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffEating foods that can discolor urine, such as berries, asparagus and rhubarb, or taking certain medications makes it more likely that you'll have harmless changes in the color of your urine. Whether you react or not depends on the amount of food or medication you take, your state of hydration, and your own body chemistry.
Factors that put you at risk of medical conditions that can affect urine color include the following:
- Age. Many men older than 50 have occasional urinary blood due to an enlarged prostate gland.
- Your sex. More than half of all women will have a urinary tract infection at some point, often with some urinary bleeding. Men are more likely to have kidney stones or bladder stones.
- A recent infection. Kidney inflammation after a viral or bacterial infection (post-infection glomerulonephritis) is one of the leading causes of visible urinary blood in children.
- Family history. A family history of kidney disease or kidney stones makes it more likely that you'll develop these problems. Both can cause blood in the urine.
- Strenuous exercise. This is one of the leading causes of visible blood in urine. Distance runners are most at risk, but anyone who exercises vigorously can have some urinary bleeding.
- Foot CL, et al. Uroscopic rainbow: Modern matula medicine. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2006;82:126.
- Liao JC, et al. Pediatric urine testing. Pediatric Clinics of North America. 2001;48:1425.
- Gerber GS, et al. Evaluation of the urologic patient: History, physical examination, and urinalysis. Wein AJ, et al. Campbell-Walsh Urology. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/151836479-3/0/1445/6.html?tocnode=54299533&fromURL=6.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-7216-0798-6..50005-4_96. Accessed July 28, 2009.
- Post TW, et al. Urinalysis in the diagnosis of renal disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
- Rose BD, et al. Evaluation of hematuria in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 17, 2009.
- Yun EJ, et al. Evaluation of the patient with hematuria. The Medical Clinics of North America. 2004;88:329.
- Mercieri A. Exercise-induced hematuria. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 17, 2009.
- Terris MK. The significance of abnormal urine color. Stanford School of Medicine. http://urology.stanford.edu/about/articles/abnormal_urine.html. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
