SIMPLIFIED QUANTIFICATION OF URINARY PROTEIN EXCRETION IN CHILDREN

In children and adolescents the evaluation of proteinuria is cumbersome because of the need to obtain timed urine collections. The protein/creatinine ratio (using a Coomassie blue binding technique and a kinetic Jaffe reaction, respectively) measured in 134 pediatric patients with renal disease aged 2 months to 16 years correlated closely with the overnight urine protein excretion rates using the statistical approach suggested by Bland and Altman to compare methods of measuring same quantity.;The upper limit of urinary protein/creatinine ratio measured in 252 healthy children and adolescents aged 4 to 19 years was shown to be 19 mg/mmol. No age-related differences in urinary protein excretion were noted in healthy subjects. The random urine protein/creatinine ratio provides an accurate assessment of quantitative protein excretion and avoids errors and difficulties associated with timed urine collection.