Assessment of the Albuscreen microalbuminuria kit in diabetic outpatients

Diabetic patients who have albumin excretion rates of greater than 30 μg/min (30 mg/L at normal urine volumes) are at increased risk of the development of diabetic nephropathy. The Albuscreen microalbiminuria kit detects albuminuria at concentrations of 30 mg/L and above by an agglutination-inhibition reaction. One hundred and ninety-five random urine samples from diabetic outpatients were assessed by Albuscreen and Albustix testing for albuminuria and the results were correlated with those of a sensitive radioimmunoassay technique. Albuscreen testing was simple, easy to use and had a sensitivity of 96%, with a specificity of 88%. Albustix testing at a detection level of 50 mg/L revealed a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 68% (43 samples, false-positive 'trace' readings), while, at 30 mg/L, the sensitivity and specificity were 90% and 71%, respectively. Therefore, Albuscreen testing is well suited as a screening test for the presence of microalbuminuria in a diabetic outpatient setting. However, the role of Albustix in screening for microalbuminuria is less well defined, especially at the 30 mg/L level of detection, and requires further investigation.