What is the importance of doing specific gravity of urine?

s.g. is the density of a substance as compared to that of the density of water which is 1.000.s.g. of a solution depends on the amount of solute present and also on the temp. of the solution.the s.g. increases with increasing conc. of the solute.

the s.g. of normal urine is 1.003 to 1.030.if the kidney is functioning properly, the concentrated first morning sample of urine should have a s.g.greater than a.020.

usually, increased discharge of urine accompanied by decrease s.g.is typical of Diabetes insipidus. on the other hand, high volume of urine discharged with increased s.g. suggests glucosuriya, associated with diabetes mellitus, or proteinuria.

if the conc. power of the kidney is disturbed, there is a combination of low s.g. and low volume of urine discharged. this occurs in case of glomerulonephritis and pyelonephritis.

two methods are employed in measuring the s.g., urinometer method and refractometer method.