Abstract
Microalbuminuria is a harbinger of progressive renal disease and cardiovascular complications in patients with diabetes mellitus. The method most commonly used to measure microalbuminuria relies on a timed urine collection, either a 24-h or overnight specimen, which is time-consuming, cumbersome, and often inaccurate. We compared microalbumin-creatinine ratio (UMA/UCr) in a random urine sample obtained after the first voided morning specimen with the quantity of microalbumin in a 24-h collection to determine whether the UMA/UCr correlates with the microalbumin content of 24-h urine collection. In a study of 124 urine samples from 97 pediatric patients with type I diabetes, daily microalbumin excretion varied from 7 to 108 mg/24-h with a mean of 55.7±18.2 mg and UMA/UCr ranged from 5 to 59 µg/mg with a mean of 39.4±11.3. An excellent correlation was found between the microalbumin excretion measured in 24-h urine collections and the random urine UMA/UCr specimens (r=0.89, P<0.001). All patients who excreted more than 30 mg microalbumin in the 24-h specimen also had a UMA/UCr of more than 20 µg/mg in the randomly voided sample. Microalbuminuria was unlikely if the UMA/UCr was below 20 µg/mg. The results of this study indicate that the measurement of UMA/UCr in a second voided morning specimen is a simple and reliable method for monitoring microalbuminuria in diabetic patients and may replace the need to assess quantitative microalbumin excretion on 24-h urine collections.
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Received: 11 May 2001 / Revised: 30 July 2001 / Accepted: 17 September 2001
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Assadi, F. Quantitation of microalbuminuria using random urine samples. Pediatr Nephrol 17, 107–110 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-001-0762-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-001-0762-5