Assessment of the Albuscreen microalbuminuria kit in diabetic outpatients.
Diabetic patients who have albumin excretion rates of greater than 30 micrograms/min (30 mg/L at normal urine volumes) are at increased risk of the development of diabetic nephropathy. The Albuscreen microalbuminuria kit detects albuminuria at concentrations of 30 mg/L and above by an agglutination-inhibition reaction. One hundred and ninety-five random urine samples from diabetic outpatients were assessed by Albuscreen and Albustix testing for albuminuria and the results were correlated with those of a sensitive radioimmunoassay technique. Albuscreen testing was simple, easy to use and had a sensitivity of 96%, with a specificity of 88%. Albustix testing at a detection level of 50 mg/L revealed a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 68% (43 samples, false-positive "trace" readings), while, at 30 mg/L, the sensitivity and specificity were 90% and 71%, respectively. Therefore, Albuscreen testing is well suited as a screening test for the presence of microalbuminuria in a diabetic outpatient setting. However, the role of Albustix in screening for microalbuminuria is less well defined, especially at the 30 mg/L level of detection, and requires further investigation.
D000419:Albuminuria / Q000652:urine*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000652:urine*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011934:Reagent Strips
D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011934:Reagent Strips