Results
We enrolled 20 stroke patients [median age 79 years, interquartile range (IQR) 73–86 years; 9 men] between 1 April 2007 and 30 April 2008. We collected 174 urine samples (median per patient = 10) and 85 blood tests (median per patient = 4) (Table 1).
Feasibility of measuring USG and Ucol
Of the 20 patients, two (one male and one female) had an indwelling urinary catheters and two male patients wore uro-sheaths. We found that we could not measure USG or Ucol on samples of urine squeezed from incontinence pads or bed linen. We found that fluid balance charts were incomplete in all patients. We did not obtain satisfactory measurements on 46 urine specimens taken from 12/20 (60%) patients because of: faecal contamination in two; urinary retention in one; discharge from hospital or died prior to end of study period in 36; and weekend samples were not collected and stored in fridge in seven.