Epidemiology

Haematuria is a common clinical finding in the primary care with a higher incidence in patients over 40 years old (1).

• prevalence of asymptomatic microscopic haematuria varies between 0.19 and 21%
  • in the UK, prevalence of asymptomatic microscopic haematuria in adult male population is around 2.5%.
  • this figure is thought to increase with age - up to 22% of males over 60 years of age having asymptomatic microscopic haematuria (2)
• 1% to 3% of patients with non-visible haematuria have urinary tract cancer (3) and macroscopic haematuria has been found to be the presenting symptom in in >66% of patients with urological malignancy (4)

Reference:

1. Benton T et al. Assessment of non-visible haematuria, BMJ Best Practice, 2021
2. Rodgers M et al. Diagnostic tests and algorithms used in the investigation of haematuria: systematic reviews and economic evaluation; Health Technology Assessment 2006;10(18)
3. Samson P, Waingankar N, Shah P, et al. Predictors of genitourinary malignancy in patients with asymptomatic microscopic hematuria. Urol Oncol. 2018 Jan;36(1):10.e1-10.e6.
4. Edwards TJ, Dickinson AJ, Natale S, et al. A prospective analysis of the diagnostic yield resulting from 4020 patients at a protocol-driven haematuria clinic. BJU Int. 2006 Feb;97(2):301-5