Background: Patients with hematuria and/or proteinuria found during routine examination are commonly encountered. To define the clinicopathological characteristics and outcome of these patients, 142 patients with definite pathological diagnosis were studied retrospectively.Methods: All the 142 patients were divided into three groups: pure hematuria (HU, n = 13), concomitant hematuria and proteinuria (HUPU, n = 79), and proteinuria alone (PU, n = 50). Results: At the time of renal biopsy, 26% of the patients had renal insufficiency and 48% of the patients had hypertension. Pathologically, IgA nephropathy (n = 67) was the most common. A total of 51 patients were enrolled into the follow-up group. Finally, urinary abnormalities disappeared in 18% of the patients, 22% of HU developed proteinuria, 21% of HUPU and 23% of PU appeared to have a distinct increase of proteinuria, and 15% of PU developed hematuria. Seven patients with normal blood pressure before became hypertensive and 6% of the patients with normal renal function initially developed renal insufficiency. The renal outcome was associated with proteinuria and tubulointerstitial lesions. Conclusion: Because renal pathologic change does not always coincide with clinical manifestations, patients with hematuria and/or proteinuria found during routine examination do not necessarily imply a favorable outcome, so renal biopsy is quite important. Besides, early treatment and careful follow-up are helpful in these patients.

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