Microalbuminuria assessment is essential for diagnosing incipient nephropathy in diabetic patients. The present study aim to evaluate whether urinary albumin concentration (UAC) and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) agree with 24 h urine collection in screening for albuminuria > 30 mg/24 h in type 1 and 2 diabetics. In this cross-sectional study were evaluated 293 diabetic patients (117 type 1 and 176 type 2). Albuminuria was determinated by turbidimetric immunoassay. The best discriminator value was 22 mg/l (sensitivity 82.5%, specificity 74.0%) for UAC and 27.3 mg/g creatinine (sensitivity 83.3%, specificity 80.9%) for UACR. Areas under ROC curves were 0.868 and 0.878, respectively (p = 0.53). Lower discriminators as 10 mg/l (sensitivity 94.2%, specificity 48.6%) and 10 mg/g creatinine (sensitivity 96.7%, specificity 49.1%) attained high sensitivities. UAC and UACR from spot morning urine had similar accuracy in screening microalbuminuria. The simplicity and lower cost of UAC justifies its preferential clinical use.
Diabetes mellitus; Diabetic nephropathy; Microalbuminuria; Spot urine sample
