Albuminuria

Albuminuria is a pathological condition of elevated albumin protein in the urine (often measured as urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio of >30 milligrams of albumin per 1 gram of creatinine per day). It is a type of proteinuria, and is the most common protein detected on urinalysis that, when elevated, is associated with kidney and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Albumin is an abundant plasma protein (present in blood) which is normally prevented from being lost into the urine by the sieve-like glomeruli of the nephrons. In healthy people, only trace amounts of it are present in urine, but when the filtration system of the kidney is damaged, larger amounts of albumin escape into the urine, which can be quantified and used to determine the extent of kidney injury/kidney disease.