Urine Specific Gravity as a Useful Tool for Screening Proteinuria in Children

Kim, Jong-Hwa; Yoo, Kee-Hwan; Hong, Young-Sook; Lee, Joo-Won; Kim, Soon-Kyum

J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol > Volume 4(1); > Article

소아 단백뇨 검사에 있어서 요비중의 유용성

김종화, 유기환, 홍영숙, 이주원, 김순겸

¹고려대학교 의과대학 소아과학 교실
²고려대학교 의과대학 소아과학 교실
³고려대학교 의과대학 소아과학 교실
⁴고려대학교 의과대학 소아과학 교실
⁵고려대학교 의과대학 소아과학 교실

Urine Specific Gravity as a Useful Tool for Screening Proteinuria in Children

Jong-Hwa Kim, Kee-Hwan Yoo, Young-Sook Hong, Joo-Won Lee, Soon-Kyum Kim

¹Department of Pediatrics, Korea University, College of Medicine
²Department of Pediatrics, Korea University, College of Medicine
³Department of Pediatrics, Korea University, College of Medicine
⁴Department of Pediatrics, Korea University, College of Medicine
⁵Department of Pediatrics, Korea University, College of Medicine

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The plcr of spot urine has been uised to predict the timed urine protein excretion. Although this method reduces errors caused by variations in urine volume, it is relatively thconvenient and expensive. Recently, a more rapid and less expensive screening method with specific gravity(SG) has been reported, and we have examined whether estimated-creatinine(Cr-est) with urine 5G could be used in place of urine creatinine to predict 24-hour collected urine protein excretion in children.
Methods: We had retrospectively analyzed protein, creatinine and urine SG in randomized spot urine samples of 147 patients from March 1998 till June 1998 in Korea university Guro hospital and compared the urinary protein creatinine ratio(P/Cr) with the protein estimated-creatinine ratio(P/Cr-est). We compared the correlation of urinary creatinine vs-urine 5G with the timed urine pretein excretion.
Results : 1) urine SG accurately estimated urine creatinine concentration (r=0.407, P<0.001, Cr=SG x 4485.82-4482.87). 2) P/Cr correlated with urine protein excretion measured in a 24-hour urine collection (r=0.771, P<0.001, 24-hour collected urine protein : 0.338 x (P/Cr) 4+667.885). 3) P/Cr-est correlated with a 24-hour collected urine protein (r=0.723, P<0.001, 24-hour collected urine protein =0.354 x (P/Cr-est)+726.044),
Conclusions : These results suggest that P/Cr-est with urine SG could be useful method for screening proteinuria in children.

Key words: Specific Gravity | Protein/creatinine | Proteinuria