title: Frequency of elevated urinary beta 2-microglobulin levels in relatives of patients with asymptomatic low-molecular-weight proteinuria.
abstract: We studied urinary beta 2-microglobulin levels in a total of 29 apparently healthy relatives (aged 0.8-70 years) of 8 male patients with asymptomatic low-molecular-weight proteinuria in six families. The frequency of levels above the age- and sex-associated 95% confidence limit was 7 of 29 (24%), 4 of 12 (33%) in first-degree relatives, 2 of 6 (33%) fathers, and 2 of 6 (33%) mothers. These frequencies were significantly above those in the general population (P less than 0.01, by a normal distribution test, a binomial distribution, and Poisson distribution test for the sample proportion). The increased frequency in fathers argues against an X-linked pattern of inheritance for this entity, suggesting that there is heterogeneity in the inheritance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsuyama
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000235:genetics / Q000652:urine*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012801:Sibling Relations; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin