Many kidney patients often encounter this question, why do they have two 24-hour proteinuria now? We will tell you, because we have to check two items, that is, urine protein quantification and urine microalbumin, what are their characteristics? Why is it necessary to check urine microalbumin? Qualitative urine protein test The result of the qualitative urine protein test is indicated by “+”, the more “+”, the more protein is lost. Advantages: It is convenient and easy to perform. Disadvantage: It is less accurate. This method is suitable for outpatient or mass population screening. 24-hour urine protein quantification A 24-hour urine protein quantification test collects urine for 24 hours and measures the amount of protein in it. Advantages: High accuracy and low error. Disadvantages: It is inconvenient and takes a long time to collect. It is currently recognized as the most accurate method to determine the protein content in urine, and is also an important basis for clinical diagnosis of kidney disease. 24-hour urine microalbumin test In recent years, urine microalbumin has been highly valued, and the method of retention is the same as that of urine protein quantification. Advantages: It is highly sensitive to the determination of proteinuria and is a golden indicator for the diagnosis of early kidney injury. Because of its small molecular weight, albumin is almost completely absorbed after filtration by the glomerulus and is generally rarely present in the urine. After the kidney is injured by external (ischemia, drugs), it will appear in the urine even in the early stage of injury, so urine microalbumin has high sensitivity. In addition, the urine microalbumin test can also be used as a reference indicator to determine whether a patient can stop taking medication when the kidney disease is in remission. Therefore, this test is now carried out in many units. It is also a urine test, but the difference is to weigh the pros and cons of choosing the test characteristics. Now that you understand the inseparable and distinct relationship between them, I’m sure you won’t have any more doubts.