Utilizing Estimated Creatinine Excretion to Improve the Performance of Spot Urine Samples for the Determination of Proteinuria in Kidney Transplant Recipients

BackgroundAgreement between spot and 24-hour urine protein measurements is poor in kidney transplant recipients. We investigated whether using formulae to estimate creatinine excretion rate (eCER), rather than assuming a standard creatinine excretion rate, would improve the estimation of proteinuria from spot urine samples in kidney transplant recipients.MethodsWe measured 24 hour urine protein and albumin and spot albumin:creatinine (ACR) and spot protein:creatinine (PCR) in 181 Kidney transplant recipients.” We utilized 6 different published formulae (Fotheringham, CKD-EPI, Cockcroft-Gault, Walser, Goldwasser and Rule) to estimate eCER and from it calculated estimated albumin and protein excretion rate (eAER and ePER). Bias, precision and accuracy (within 15%, 30% and 50%) of ACR, PCR, eAER, ePER were compared to 24-hour urine protein and albumin.ResultsACR and PCR significantly underestimated 24-hour albumin and protein excretion (ACR Bias (IQR), -5.9 mg/day; pConclusionUtilizing estimated creatinine excretion to calculate eAER and ePER improves the estimation of 24-hour albuminuria/proteinuria with spot urine samples in kidney transplant recipients.