How Long Can Urine Be Stored At Room Temperature For A Drug Test?

The rising drug abuse is like rust in the wheels of a developing society. Harming society every day more and more. The drug has ruined several lives and households and continues to do so even today. According to WHO some 31 million persons suffer from drug resulting disorders every year and draining a big piece of their family’s income into their care and medication. Making drug abuse a drain of economy and happiness.

Several times youngsters mistakenly fall into the vicious trap of drug use and due to a handful a lot of others are blamed for the same. Firstly it is important to stay away from such malpractice but if you think someone is going down that lane then counselling and a simple drug test can clear out the picture for you.

Drug test is usually done by extracting blood with the help of a syringe. The process is authentic but another painless and easy option is a drug test by urine. A urine drug test, also known as a urine drug screen or a UDS, is a painless test. It analyzes your urine for the presence of certain illegal drugs and prescription medications.

The urine drug test usually screens for:

• Amphetamines
• methamphetamines
• Benzodiazepines
• barbiturates
•  Marijuana
• Cocaine
• PCP
• methadone
• Opioids(narcotics)

 

A urine drug test can help a doctor detect potential substance abuse problems. After a drug test identifies drugs you may be misusing, doctors can help you start a treatment plan. Taking urine drug tests throughout substance abuse treatment helps to ensure that the plan is working and that you’re no longer taking drugs.

Transportation, and Preservation of Urine Specimens, In general, chemical preservatives should be avoided for urinalysis. NCCLS recommends that urinalysis be performed within two hours of collection. If this is not possible, the urine specimen should be refrigerated as soon as possible after collection. The length of time a specimen can be held under refrigeration for adequate preservation has not been agreed upon different urine constituents remain unchanged under refrigeration for different lengths of time. Generally, the urinalysis should be completed within six to eight hours of collection. Decomposition of urine begins within 30 minutes; therefore, ideally, urine should be examined within this time.

 Urine left at room temperature for more than two hours is usually considered unacceptable for examination. Refrigeration is generally adequate for constituents encountered in the routine urinalysis, with the exception of bilirubin and urobilinogen, which are labile to both heat and light. 

There are urine preservation tubes commercially available for both urinalysis and culture that are said to preserve urine up to 72 hours without refrigeration. They are generally screw-on cap, leak-proof polypropylene tubes with conical bottoms and skirted freestanding bases, and each contains a preservative tablet such as mercuric oxide. The capacity of the tube is limited as little as 10mL. 

Age of the collected urine is less than 2 hours, still it can stay longer if kept in the right kind of tubes which are made only for the purpose of urine of urine storage and extend its life to nearly 72 hours.

source https://urinewarmer.org/how-long-can-urine-be-stored-at-room-temperature-for-a-drug-test/