For a 70 kg adult burn patient, what is the urine output target per hour during resuscitation?

• A. 35–70 mL/h
• B. 10–20 mL/h
• C. 100–150 mL/h
• D. 0–5 mL/h

Answer: (A)

During burn resuscitation, urine output serves as a real-time gauge of adequate intravascular volume and tissue perfusion. The target for adults is about 0.5 mL of urine per kilogram of body weight per hour, reflecting the need to maintain kidney perfusion without overloading fluids. For a 70 kg adult, that comes to roughly 35 mL per hour. In practice, many clinicians use a practical range up to about 1 mL/kg/hr, yielding 35–70 mL/h, to accommodate variability in losses and perfusion. Keeping urine output in this range helps balance preventing under-resuscitation, which risks hypoperfusion, with avoiding fluid overload. Values significantly lower point to insufficient resuscitation, while substantially higher outputs may indicate over-resuscitation or diuresis.