Evaluation of Some Commonly Used Semiquantitative Methods for Urinary Glucose and Ketone Determinations

The 2 Drop Clinitest, 5 Drop Clinitest, Tes-Tape, and Ketodiastix semiquantitative urinary glucose methods were evaluated using 300 urine samples from diabetic patients and comparing the results with those obtained by an AutoAnalyzer-glucose oxidase method. At high levels of glycosuria (above 1,500 mg.'100 ml.) the 2 Drop Clinitest method gave better quantitation than the other methods. In this range the Keto-diastix method often gave falsely low results. At intermediate levels of glycosuria (376 to 1,500 mg.'100 ml.) there appeared to be little or no difference among the methods. The 2 Drop Clinitest method was often insensitive to levels of urinary glucose below 376 mg.'100 ml. In this range the other three methods gave comparable results, with the exception that Tes-Tape was sometimes positive with normal levels (1 to 15 mg.'100 ml.) of glycosuria. Proteinuria and pregnancy had no effect on any of the methods. Acetest was a more sensitive and accurate indicator of urinary ketone levels than Keto-diastix.