Albumin Urine Test

What To Think About

• The American Diabetes Association recommends three tests to check for kidney damage. These tests are blood pressure, urine albumin, and a creatinineblood test to calculate an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Creatinine is a waste product that is filtered out of the blood by healthy kidneys. To learn more, see the topic Creatinine and Creatinine Clearance.
  • If you have type 2 diabetes, you should have these tests when you are first diagnosed. Then have them each year to check for diabetic nephropathy.
  • If you have type 1 diabetes, you should have these tests to check for diabetic nephropathy each year, starting 5 years after diagnosis.
  • If you have either type of diabetes and are pregnant, talk to your doctor about how often you need to be tested.
• The urine dipstick test can be used to check for albumin in a single sample of urine. But the dipstick test is not as accurate a test for finding albuminuria as the urine test. It is not recommended in place of an albumin urine test.

Citations

1. 
   Pagana KD, Pagana TJ (2010). Mosby’s Manual of Diagnostic and Laboratory Tests, 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier.
   
2. 
   Chernecky CC, Berger BJ (2008). Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures, 5th ed. St. Louis: Saunders.
   
3. 
   Fischbach FT, Dunning MB III, eds. (2009). Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests, 8th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
   

Other Works Consulted

• 
  American Diabetes Association (2014). Standards of medical care in diabetes-2014. Diabetes Care, 37(Suppl 1): S14-S80. DOI: 10.2337/dc14-S014. Accessed January 7, 2014.
  
• 
  Chernecky CC, Berger BJ (2008). Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures, 5th ed. St. Louis: Saunders.
  
• 
  Fischbach FT, Dunning MB III, eds. (2009). Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests, 8th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
  
• 
  Pagana KD, Pagana TJ (2010). Mosby’s Manual of Diagnostic and Laboratory Tests, 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier.