ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Given the low effectiveness of 24 hours determination of urinary albumin excretion (UAE) for the diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy in primary care, we aimed at evaluating the albumin: creatinine ratio (ACR) in the first voided morning urine sample as a diagnostic tool in this setting. PATIENTS AND METHOD: 214 patients with type 2 diabetes were studied. ACR and UAE were compared with correlation and lineal regression analyses. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to determine the discriminatory value for diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy. RESULTS: The correlation coefficient between ACR and UAE was 0.93 (p<0.01) and the ROC curve analysis showed a value of 2.4 g/mol for women and 1.4 g/mol for men. CONCLUSIONS: ROC curve analysis reveals that ACR is a useful method for diagnosing diabetic nephropathy, although the discriminatory value depends on sex.
