Causes of Blood in Urine

Hematuria has many different causes.

• Blood in the urine can come from any condition that results in infection, inflammation, or injury to the urinary system.
  
  
• Typically, microscopic hematuria indicates damage to the upper urinary tract (kidneys), while visible blood indicates damage to the lower tract (ureters, bladder, or urethra). But this is not always the case.
  
  
• The most common causes in people younger than 40 years of age are kidney stones or urinary tract infections.
  
  
• These may also cause hematuria in older people, but cancers of the kidney, bladder, and prostate become a more common concern in people older than 40 years of age.
  
  
• Several conditions causing hematuria may exist at the same time.
  
  
• Some causes of hematuria are serious, others are not. Your healthcare provider will perform tests to help tell the difference.

The well-known causes of blood in the urine include the following:

• Kidney stones
  
  
• Infections of the urinary tract or genitals
  
  
• Blockage of the urinary tract, usually the urethra - by a stone, a tumor, a narrowing of the opening (stricture), or a compression from surrounding structures
  
  
• Cancer of the kidney, bladder, or prostate
  
  
• Kidney disease
  
  
• Blood clotting disorders
  
  
• Injury to the upper or lower urinary tract, as in a car accident or a bad fall
  
  
• Medications - Antibiotics [for example, rifampin (Rifadin)], analgesics such as aspirin, anticoagulants [blood thinners such as warfarin, (Coumadin)], phenytoin (Dilantin), quinine (Quinerva, Quinite, QM-260)
  
  
• Benign (noncancerous) enlargement of the prostate - known as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), a common condition in older men
  
  
• Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and sickle cell anemia
  
  
• Viral infections
  
  
• Inflammation of the kidney - usually of unknown cause
  
  
• Strenuous exercise, especially running - results from repeated jarring of the bladder

Sometimes no cause is found for blood in the urine.

• If serious conditions such as cancer, kidney disease, and other chronic diseases that cause kidney damage or bleeding are ruled out, the cause is usually not serious.
  
  
• The hematuria will probably go away by itself or continue as a chronic condition without doing harm. Any changes should immediately trigger a return visit and evaluation by your healthcare provider.

Urine can be colored pink, red, or brown for reasons that have nothing to do with bleeding in the urinary tract:

• Foods - beets, berries, rhubarb in large amounts
  
  
• Food coloring
  
  
• Medications - Certain laxatives and pain medications
  
  
• Menstrual blood
  
  
• Liver diseases - also can be very serious