title: Random protein-creatinine ratio for the quantitation of proteinuria in pregnancy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare random urine protein-creatinine ratios with 24-hour urine protein excretion rates in patients hospitalized with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  All hospitalized, hypertensive patients requiring 24-hour urine protein excretion collections were eligible for the study. During the 24-hour urine collection a separate 2-mL aliquot was taken for a protein and creatinine determination.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-one samples were collected from patients with the following diagnoses: gestational hypertension (n = 56), preexisting hypertension and superimposed gestational hypertension (n = 11), and syndrome of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets (n = 4). The correlation coefficient between the random protein-creatinine ratio and the 24-hour urine protein excretion was 0.94. Calculated excretion rates with at least 300 mg protein in 24 hours had a sensitivity of 0.93, specificity of 0.90, and positive and negative predictive values of 0.87 and 0.95, respectively. For those samples with calculated excretion rates at least 5 g protein in 24 hours, the sensitivity was 1.00, specificity was 0.99, and positive and negative predictive values were 0.75 and 0.99, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In nonambulatory hypertensive pregnant patients, there is a strong correlation between random voided protein-creatinine ratios and 24-hour urine protein excretions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sepandj
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Liston
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Dooley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D017359:HELLP Syndrome / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000652:urine*; D016014:Linear Models; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000652:urine*; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000652:urine*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003404:Creatinine