Performance and Concordance Evaluation of Semi-Quantitative Urinary Albumin Creatinine Ratio and Protein Creatinine Ratio with Quantitative Method

Proteinuria and albuminuria are strongly associated with kidney disease, and albuminuria is an important marker for stratifying the severity of chronic kidney disease (CKD) as well as increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Currently, standard examinations for urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) and urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (uPCR) are performed using automated chemical analyzers and immunoturbidimetric methods, which are not available in all laboratories. Therefore, there is a need for practical, low cost, and easily performed assays, such as dipstick tests, for uACR and uPCR measurements. The Meditape UC-۱۱A dipstick test offers a semi-quantitative approach for detecting urinary albumin, protein, and creatinine, and may represent a promising screening tool for kidney disease in resource-limited settings. However, the concordance between this semi-quantitative method and quantitative methods has not been extensively evaluated. This study aims to evaluate the concordance of semi-quantitative uACR, uPCR, urinary albumin, urinary protein, and urinary creatinine values obtained with Meditape UC-۱۱A, compared to quantitative methods as the gold standard. The study's findings, with Kappa values of ۰.۸۳۰ for uACR, ۰.۸۵۷ for uPCR, ۰.۷۷۶ for urinary albumin, ۰.۷۹۴ for urinary creatinine, and ۰.۸۹۹ for urinary protein, have good concordance with quantitative methods. The semi-quantitative uACR demonstrated ۹۶% sensitivity, ۸۷% specificity, ۹۰% positive predictive value (PPV), and ۹۵% negative predictive value (NPV). The uPCR showed ۹۰% sensitivity, ۹۲% specificity, ۹۲% PPV, and ۹۰% NPV. The study concluded that semi-quantitative uACR and uPCR methods have good performance and concordance with quantitative methods, making them practical and reliable tools for kidney disease screening.

کلیدواژه ها:

uACR ، uPCR ، Semi-quantitative ، Performance and Concordance