ABSTRACT
Proteinuria is an important diagnostic component of preeclampsia. We prospectively compared the results of spot urine protein-creatinine [P/C] ratio with 24-hour urine protein excretion in women with preeclampsia. A total of 81 pregnant women with preeclampsia were prospectively studied for proteinuria. Urine P/C ratio was determined in a spot mid-stream urine sample, and the amount of protein excretion was measured in 24-hour urine collected on the subsequent day. The correlation between the spot P/C ratio and 24-hour urine protein excretion was assessed. Diagnostic value of P/C ratio was expressed in terms of specificity and sensitivity. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the best discriminator values of the spot urine P/C ratios for preeclampsia [proteinuria >/= 300 mg/24 h]. There was a strong correlation between the spot P/C ratio and 24-hour urine protein excretion [r = 0.84; P < .001]. The optimal spot P/C ratio cutoff point was 0.20 for 300 mg/24 h of protein excretion [preeclampsia], with a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 91.2%, 87.8%, 94.4%, and 96.8%, respectively. The spot P/C ratios less than 0.19 yielded a sensitivity of 100% for exclusion of preeclampsia. We found that there is a significant correlation between the spot urine P/C ratio and 24-hour urine protein excretion in women with preeclampsia. Urine P/C ratio could be used for exclusion of preeclampsia