فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

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-11A 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-11A, compared to quantitative methods as the gold standard. The study's findings, with Kappa values of 0.830 for uACR, 0.857 for uPCR, 0.776 for urinary albumin, 0.794 for urinary creatinine, and 0.899 for urinary protein, have good concordance with quantitative methods. The semi-quantitative uACR demonstrated 96% sensitivity, 87% specificity, 90% positive predictive value (PPV), and 95% negative predictive value (NPV). The uPCR showed 90% sensitivity, 92% specificity, 92% PPV, and 90% 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.