Foamy Urine As A Sign Of Proteinuria
While foamy or frothy urine can be a sign of proteinuria, other factors can cause urine to be foamy on occasion. The foaminess should be persistent over time before considering other causes, like decreased kidney function.
If the kidneys have sustained only mild damage, proteinuria may be minimal to moderate, depending upon where in the kidney the damage has occurred. On the other hand, if the loss of kidney function is severe, proteinuria may be a contributor to nephrotic syndrome in which fluids and dyslipidemia present a more serious condition.
Symptoms of nephrotic syndrome include:
Kidney Numbers And Ckd Heat Map
Watch a series of short, animated videos that will help you learn about the importance of knowing your kidney numbers, how the heat map works for identifying where you are in terms of kidney health and along with some tips for improving your kidney numbers and moving in the right direction on the heat map.
How Is The Test Given
The test doesnt require anything other than normal urination. There are no risks involved.
The test may be performed at home or in the hospital. Generally, youll be given one or more containers to collect and store your urine over a 24-hour period.
Usually, youll start in the morning. You wont save the urine during that first trip to the bathroom. Instead, flush and begin keeping track of time. You will collect the rest of your urine for the next 24 hours.
Store your urine from the 24-hour time period in a cool environment. It can be kept in the refrigerator or on ice in a cooler.
Label the container with your name, date, and time of collection. After 24 hours of urine collection, the samples must be taken to a lab for analysis. If youre at home, your healthcare provider will tell you how to transport the urine.
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How Is Albuminuria Detected
A health care provider often tests for albuminuria using a urine dipstick test followed by a urine albumin and creatinine measurement.
You will be asked to collect a urine sample in a special container in your health care providers office or a commercial facility. The office or facility tests the sample onsite or sends it to a lab for analysis.
Dipstick test for albumin. A dipstick test performed on a urine sample can detect the presence of albumin in the urine. For the test, a nurse or technician places a dipstick, a strip of chemically treated paper, into the urine. The dipstick changes color if albumin is present in the urine.
Albumin and creatinine measurement. A health care provider uses this measurement to determine the ratio between the albumin and creatinine in the urine and to estimate the amount of albumin excreted in 24 hours. Creatinine is a waste product that is filtered in the kidneys and excreted in the urine. Health care providers consider a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio above 30 mg/g higher than normal.
What Does The Test Result Mean
A negative test result means that there is no detectable amount of protein in the urine at the time of testing.
Protein detected in a random urine sample may be temporary due to an infection, medication, vigorous exercise, pregnancy, diet, cold exposure, or emotional or physical stress. Testing should be repeated after these conditions have resolved.
Protein in the urine can also be a warning sign of a serious condition and usually warrants further investigation. Typically, three positive urine samples over a period of time without other significant symptoms will often be followed up with additional tests, including a 24-hour urine.
Persistent and/or an increased amount of protein in the urine may indicate kidney damage or disease. With kidney disease, the amount of protein present is generally associated with the severity of the damage. Increasing amounts of protein over time indicate increasing damage and decreasing kidney function. The most common cause of protein in the urine is kidney damage resulting from:
- Diabetes proteinuria is one of the first signs of deteriorating kidney function in people with type 1 and 2 diabetes.
- High blood pressure proteinuria in someone with high blood pressure is also a first sign of declining kidney function.
Proteinuria may also be seen with many other diseases and conditions. A healthcare practitioner may order other tests and take into account those results to help determine the cause. Some examples of these causes include:
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Vitamin D Deficiency In The Onset And Progression Of Renal Lesions
Urinary protein is a well-recognized determinant of renal disease progression and higher risk for cardiovascular complications . This section presents potential defects in autocrine/paracrine mechanisms that may explain why the degree of vitamin D deficiency strongly correlates with the severity of albuminuria in a large population of individuals with normal kidney function .
Amer Wahed MD, Amitava Dasgupta PhD, DABCC, in, 2015
Testing For Protein In Urine
The only way to diagnose proteinuria is through a urine test, which measures the amount of protein in your urine.
The test takes place in a doctors office. During the procedure, you urinate into a specimen cup. The doctor places a dipstick, or a small plastic stick coated with chemicals, into the urine sample. If it has too much protein, the stick will change color.
The rest of the urine will be sent to a lab, where it will be examined under a microscope.
If the doctor thinks you have kidney concerns, theyll repeat the urine test three times in 3 months. This helps them rule out temporary causes of proteinuria.
A doctor might also use the following tests to determine whats causing your proteinuria:
- 24-hour urine protein test. In this test, the doctor collects multiple urine samples over 1 day and sends them to a lab.
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How To Treat Proteinuria
Being diagnosed with proteinuria is disheartening. It is however not life threatening. With proper management, proteinuria will go away. You will need to implement some lifestyle changes. These will include better diet management. You will also be asked to stop smoking, drinking alcohol, and lose excess weight.
Medication may be given in the course of treating your proteinuria. Only use drugs prescribed by your doctor and approved for treatment of proteinuria. Follow the dosage of such medication faithfully.
A number of health problems can lead to proteinuria. They include high blood pressure, infections, drugs, diabetes and mediation, tumors such as multiple myeloma and kidney disease, Mild proteinuria is not indicative of a serious disorder. Nevertheless, elevated amounts of protein in your urine are not considered normal. Persistently high protein levels in urine outside the protein in urine normal range is often a sign of improperly functioning kidneys.
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Protein In Urine Levels & Types Of Proteinuria
Urine and its composition are important in a number of medical diagnostic procedures. Proteins are found in urine at varying levels. A protein in urine normal range is used as a standard against which all results are compared. The level of proteins in urine may temporarily rise due to diet, physical exertion and disease. Presence of unusually high levels of protein in urine is called Proteinuria or Albuminuria.
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Whats Wrong With Having Albumin In My Urine
One of the main jobs of your kidneys is to filter your blood. Your kidneys keep important things your body needs inside your blood, like protein. They also remove things your body doesnt need, like waste products and extra water.
If kidneys are healthy, you should have very little protein in your urine or even none. But if your kidneys are damaged, protein can leak out of the kidneys into your urine.
When Should I Know The Results Of A Urine Protein Creatinine Ratio Test
Results from this test may be ready in a few minutes, or it may take a few days to get results. Your healthcare provider will contact you to discuss the results and explain what they may mean.
What do high levels of protein in urine mean?
If your kidneys are working properly, they eliminate less than 150 milligrams of protein per day in your urine. Higher protein levels in your urine can increase temporarily as a result of:
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What Is The 24
The 24-hour urine protein test checks how much protein is being spilled into the urine, which can help detect disease or other problems. The test is simple and noninvasive.
Urine samples are collected in one or more containers over a period of 24 hours. The containers are kept in a cool environment and then sent to a lab for analysis. Specialists then check the urine for protein.
When higher-than-normal amounts of protein are in the urine, its called proteinuria. This is often a sign of kidney damage and disease.
The test doesnt show what kinds of protein are in the urine. To determine this, your doctor may also order tests such as a serum and urine protein electrophoresis. The test also doesnt show the cause of the protein loss.
Occasionally, proteinuria isnt a sign of kidney damage. This is especially true for children. Protein levels may be higher during the day than the night. Other factors, such as extreme exercise, may also influence the test results.
- preeclampsia screening during pregnancy
The 24-hour urine protein test consists of multiple samples of urine taken over a 24-hour period. Its different from a protein-to-creatinine ratio test, which uses just one sample of urine. The 24-hour urine protein test may be given as a follow-up to a positive protein-to-creatinine ratio test.
Does Kidney Damage Go Away
In general, it does not. The goal is to detect kidney disease and damage early to minimize the damage and prolong kidney function. If the proteinuria detected is due to a kidney infection or urinary tract infection, the kidneys frequently will return to normal function as the infection resolves. If it is due to a medication, then in most cases the kidneys are likely to return to normal or near-normal function when the medication is stopped.
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Is There Anything Else I Need To Know About A Protein In Urine Test
At-home test kits that check for protein in urine test are available without a prescription. The kits usually include dipsticks and instructions for how to collect and test your urine sample. At-home urine tests are easy to do and provide accurate results as long as you carefully follow all instructions. Ask your provider which protein in urine test is best for you.
What Causes Protein In The Urine
Healthy kidneys remove extra fluid and waste from your blood and transform it into urine. Healthy kidneys do not remove proteins and other important nutrients, which pass through and return to your blood. But when your kidneys are damaged, they may let this protein leak into your urine. This causes high levels of protein in your urine.
Anyone can have protein in their urine. You may be more likely to have protein in your urine if you have one or more of the risk factors for kidney disease. There are health problems that can cause long-lasting protein in the urine, and some that can cause short-term protein in the urine.
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Prediction Of Proteinuria Thresholds
The ability of random UPCR to accurately predict 24hUP values above thresholds of 0.5g, 1.0g, 2.0g, 3.0g, 6.0g and 10.g are shown in Table 4. For example, when predicting values in adults, a threshold of random UPCR > 0.60 accurately predicts a 24hUP > 0.5g with positive and negative predictive values of 0.91 and 0.89 respectively. Accuracies were > 0.80 for all thresholds among both adult and pediatric subjects. When using all 226 adult patients and all 666 adult observations, area under the curve statistics for each threshold were 0.90. Pediatric c-statistics were all 0.83 .
ROC analysis of the ability of random UPCR to predict 24hUP above clinically relevant thresholds for adults and pediatrics
Repeated measures ROC estimated using generalized linear mixed models with variance components covariate structure
What Are The Benefits Of A Urine Protein Creatinine Ratio Test
A UPCR test is noninvasive, quick and painless. Using a small amount of urine, this test helps your provider check for disease and disorders that affect how your kidneys are working. It also helps your provider monitor treatments for conditions that cause kidney damage.
Some other types of urine tests, such as the creatinine clearance test, only measure creatinine levels . This test requires you to collect all of your urine over a timed period so a lab can measure the volume of urine produced over a specific length of time. Other tests, such as a urine protein test, only measure protein in your urine over a longer period of time, usually 24 hours.
Because a UPCR test measures both creatinine and protein levels, you only need to give one urine sample. A UPCR test is a convenient, reliable alternative to tests needing multiple samples.
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Protein In Urine Normal Range
The protein in urine normal range is calculated in milligrams per deciliter. Protein in urine normal range is set at 20 mg/dL as the upper limit. The sample for urinalysis is collected randomly or at a time agreed on with your doctor. For better diagnostics, a doctor may order samples to be collected over a period of a day for the 24-hour proteinuria test. The 24 hour urine protein normal range is 80mg/dl in the lower limit.
From random samples and simple testing, it is possible to tell if there are proteins in urine. Though it does not give accurate measurements of the levels of each protein type, the protein in urine 1+ reporting system for proteinuria tests is still in wide use.
There are two tests for identifying proteinuria. They are the 24-hour urine test and the Spot urinalysis. One collects samples over a period of 24 hours while the other utilizes a randomly collected sample. If a randomly collected sample shows a problem with the levels of protein in your urine, your doctor may want you to have the 24-hour urine test.
Results from testing for proteinuria are classified into 24-hour urine analysis results and spot urine results. A further reading centred on the ration of albumin to creatinine is made from analyzing your urine in the laboratory. The 24 hour urine protein creatinine ratio must not exceed 0.15.
What Are The Signs Of Micro
In its early stages, there may be no noticeable signs or symptoms. As kidney function declines and large amounts of proteins are passing into the urine, swelling of the hands, feet, abdomen and face may occur. If albuminuria progresses, it may result in permanent kidney damage. In some patients, it might result in the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant. With or without symptoms, the only way to find out how much protein is passing into the urine is to test it.
Micro-albuminuria is linked with cardiovascular disease. Damaged blood vessels can lead to stroke and heart failure in addition to kidney disease.
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Correlations Between Random And 24
Pearson correlation coefficients estimating the relationship in the derivation sample between random UPCR and 24hUP are shown in Table 3. There was only a moderate correlation across all observations for adult and pediatric subjects . Correlations were stronger between random UPCR and 24-hour UPCR than between random UPCR and 24hUP . Adjusting for body surface area or lean body weight improved associations in pediatric but not adult subjects . Log10-transforming random UPCR and 24hUP strengthened the correlation to 0.85 for adults and 0.82 for pediatric subjects. Removing outliers and log transforming values further improved the final correlation among adults , while in pediatric subjects removing outliers, log transforming and adjusting for body surface area resulted a correlation of r=0.80. The effect of urinary flow, as reflected by urinary creatnine concentration, did did/not have an additional effect on the correlation of random UPCR and 24hUP .
Correlation of random UP:C and 24hUP from an aliquot of the 24h collection
How Is Protein In Urine Diagnosed
Testing for protein in urine is typically done via a test called a urinalysis. This simple urine test can detect protein levels in the urine and can be conducted in a doctors office. After your urine sample is collected, it is tested with a dipstick. When your urine has large amounts of protein, the strip of paper will change color. Technicians may also examine the sample via microscope.
If a urinalysis detects protein in the urine, your doctor will likely order an additional urine test or tests to determine if you have kidney disease. Your doctor may also conduct blood tests to measure your glomerular filtration rate , which can tell them how well your kidneys are filtering out waste, as well as other blood tests if needed to help identify the cause of the proteinuria. Additional tests may include an ultrasound, CT scan, or kidney biopsy.
When your urine is tested for protein, the test compares the amounts of albumin and creatinine, an amino acid, in your urine. A urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio higher than 30 milligrams per gram observed more than twice over a three-month period may indicate kidney disease.
If you get an abnormal result that detects protein in the urine, your doctor will also probably want to check your cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and blood pressure to determine what conditions might be contributing to proteinuria.
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