“What is the cause of blood in the urine?”

Hello,

There are lots of reasons for blood-tinged urine. If you have pain with urination, it could be a kidney stone or rhabdomyolysis (muscle injury in dehydration). Painless blood in urine could come from tumors in the kidneys or the bladder. I suggest you follow up with a urologist for a cystoscopy.

Hello,
The presence of blood in urine is always reflecting a pathology. Blood can come from the kidney as well as from the urinary tract (bladder most frequently, but also, ureter or prostate).
At age 56, if you are a man, you should see a urologist rapidly because there is a possibility of cancer in the bladder. You should also see your physician which should perform rapidly a renal ultrasound to exclude any problem coming from the kidney (kysts, tumor, stone…). A urine exam is also necessary to evaluate if there are other problems: protein in the urine, and analyze the type of red blood cells in the urine.
If you're a woman, the same is valid, but one should also exclude an infection as hemorrhagic cystitis is frequent, but not so worrisome.

In conclusion, please consult your physician without delay and let him check both your kidneys and the urinary tract.

Best regards,
M. Burnier

There are several causes of blood in the urine some are benign like bladder or urinary tract infection, kidney stone, but polyps or tumor in the kidney and bladder can also cause blood in urine. Kidney injury, chronic inflammation in the kidney called glomerulonephritis can be associated with blood in urine. There are other systemic causes of blood in urine.
First, you should see your family doctor who can run urine test and blood test to see if there is concern of bladder infection or kidney injury is the cause. Imaging like kidney US or CT scan of kidney can exclude kidney stone or kidney tumor or cyst. For bladder issue, a urologist may recommend cystoscopy, looking inside the bladder by scope.
I hope it helps to clarify your questions.

Kidney stone, UTI, bladder problems.
All these can cause blood in the urine. You need a nephrology consultation.

Possible kidney disease

It surely can be a serious situation. Painless hematuria after age 50 does raise concern for tumor/mass, with risk for urological malignancy being higher if you are a smoker or have a family history. Kidney stones, glomeruloneohritis, vasculitis, infection, and many other causes can give blood and needs to be evaluated.

Yes, it has to be checked out. May or May not be serious. Unlikely to be kidney injury, if you have no history of trauma to the kidney. You should report it to your family physician and go from there. Especially at this age, needs to rule out any abnormality in the urinary tract, both upper and lower tract (kidney, ureter, bladder, etc.). Seems like you are having painless hematuria (blood in the urine without any pain). Usually, henaturia associated with kidney stone is painful. You may need imaging studies like a kidney/bladder ultrasound and also a cystoscopy. But please see your family physician and proceed from there.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact.
Hope everything will be alright.
Thanks