Why albumin creatinine ratio

The following chart lists the albuminuria categories in CKD. Skip to main content. Albuminuria Albuminuria is increased excretion of urinary albumin and a marker of kidney damage. Detecting albuminuria A routine dipstick is not sensitive enough to detect small amounts of urine protein. Your child might need to temporarily stop taking specific drugs that could interfere with test results.

Be sure to review all your child's medications with your doctor. Your child will be asked to urinate pee into a clean sample cup in the doctor's office or at home. Collecting the specimen should only take a few minutes. If your child isn't potty trained and can't urinate into a cup, a catheter a narrow, soft tube may need to be inserted into the bladder to obtain the urine specimen.

A urine collection bag with adhesive tape on one end might instead be used to collect a sample from an infant. If you're doing the collection at home, you'll clean your baby's genital area and then attach the bag around the urinary opening. Once the bag is in place, you'll secure it with the attached tape. You can put a diaper on your baby once you've attached the bag. Remove the collection bag after your baby has urinated into it, usually within an hour. Deliver this specimen to your lab.

Sometimes, a doctor will want to test urine collected over a period of time ranging from 4 to 24 hours. After each urination, you or your child will pour the specimen from the sample cup into a larger container.

Studies have shown that correcting albumin for creatinine excretion rates has similar discriminatory value with respect to diabetic renal involvement. The albumin:creatinine ratio from a random urine specimen is also considered a valid screening tool. These studies have shown that the first-morning urine specimen is less sensitive, but more specific. Studies also have shown that microalbuminuria is a marker of generalized vascular disease and is associated with stroke and heart disease.

Microalbuminuria is defined as an albumin:creatinine ratio of 17 to for males and 25 to for females. Due to biologic variability, positive results should be confirmed by a second, first-morning random or hour timed urine specimen.

If there is discrepancy, a third specimen is recommended. When 2 out of 3 results are in the microalbuminuria range, this is evidence for incipient nephropathy and warrants increased efforts at glucose control, blood pressure control, and institution of therapy with an angiotensin-converting-enzyme ACE inhibitor if the patient can tolerate it.

If kidney disease is diagnosed early in people with diabetes , appropriate treatment can be given and its effects can be closely monitored. It should also be measured each year, or more frequently, if your ACR level is significantly raised.

If you have a slightly raised ACR level, you may have early-stage kidney disease.