OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical and pathological characteristics between patients with and without glomerular hematuria.

METHODSTotally 310 patients with isolated microscopic hematuria and 24-hour urinary protein <0.5 g were enrolled in this study, who were free of renal calculi, infections, or tumors. These patients were divided into glomerular hematuria group and non-glomerular hematuria group according examination by phase-contrast microscope, and their clinicopathological data were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSOf the 209 patients identified to have glomerular hematuria, 46.41% had IgA nephropathy, 22.49% had small glomerular lesions, and 14.35% had non-IgA mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis. In the patients with non-glomerular hematuria, 65.34% had IgA nephropathy, 21.78% had non-IgA mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis, and 8.91% had small glomerular lesions. No significant differences were found in the patients' gender, age, course of disease or hypertension between the two groups (P>0.05), but renal insufficiency was more common in patients with glomerular hematuria.

CONCLUSIONIgA nephropathy is still the most frequent pathological finding in patients with hematuria, and even in non-glomerular hematuria patients severe renal pathological changes can be common.