What is urinary microalbumin?

Urine microalbumin is a very sensitive objective indicator reflecting kidney function. Clinically, urine microalbumin is almost undetectable, or the value is very low. If urine microalbumin is found to be slightly elevated, it is recommended that the patient be reexamined. If the reexamination result is still elevated, specific diseases need to be ruled out. Urine microalbumin elevation is due to chronic nephritis, hypertension, pregnancy hypertension, diabetes, and medical diseases. Because the kidney is damaged by these diseases, the filtration rate is reduced, the basement membrane is damaged, and the urine microalbumin can pass through the normal or damaged renal filtration membrane. Therefore, the urine microalbumin level is found in the urine. The increase of urine microalbumin is only a sensitive indicator of the kidney and does not necessarily indicate that the disease has been irreversibly acquired. If abnormal conditions are found, timely treatment can control or reverse the disease.