Urinary albumin excretion rate

Method

Albumin excreted per unit time from a timed urine collection (overnight or 24-hour), assayed immunoturbidimetrically or immunonephelometrically and expressed as micrograms per minute. Collection interval and completeness check recorded on the edge.

The method is part of the endpoint identity. Studies measuring the same quantity by a different method are held as separate endpoints.

Notes

Confused with urinary microalbumin reported as a concentration (mg/L) and with the albumin-to-creatinine ratio (mg/g or mg/mmol). All three are called 'microalbuminuria' in abstracts, but only this one is normalised by time: a concentration moves with hydration and urine flow when nothing renal has changed, and a creatinine ratio moves with muscle mass. Merging them mixes units and produces a pooled estimate with no interpretable scale. Also distinct from 24-hour urinary protein excretion, which counts total protein in grams and is an order of magnitude coarser.