DETECTING MICROALBUMINURIA BY URINARY ALBUMIN CREATININE CONCENTRATION RATIO/

Background. Microalbuminuria, i.e. a subclinical increase of the album in excretion rate in urine, may be a novel atherosclerotic risk factor . This study aimed to test whether microalbuminuria can be identified by measurement of urinary albumin concentration or urinary albumin/cre atinine concentration ratio, instead of the usual measurement of the a lbumin excretion rate in a timed urine collection. Methods. All 2579 s ubjects analysed were screened in a population based epidemiological s tudy. Participants with diabetes mellitus, renal disease, haematuria, or urinary tract infection were not included. Urinary albumin (U-alb) and creatinine (U-creat) concentrations were measured in an overnight collected sample by enzyme-linked immunosorbent and colorimetric assay s, respectively. Urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and urinary alb umin/creatinine concentration ratio U-alb/U-creat) were calculated. Re sults. The correlation between U-alb and UAER was 0.72 (n = 2579, P < 0.001), and the correlation between U-alb/U-creat and UAER was 0.81 (n = 2579, P < 0.001). In the detection of microalbuminuria, the nosogra phic sensitivity and specificity, and the diagnostic specificity were 58%, 97%, and 66% for U-alb, and 73%, 97%, and 73% for U-alb/U-creat, respectively. Conclusions. It is concluded that measurement of the alb umin/creatinine concentration ratio is a specific and quite sensitive alternative to measurement of the urinary albumin excretion rate in ti med collections, when screening for microalbuminuria.