Establishment of a Reference Interval for Urinary Albumin-to-creatinine Ratio in Dogs

Overview

Journal Vet Clin Pathol

Specialties Pathology
Veterinary Medicine

Date 2022 Jul 6

PMID 35791959

Authors

Fruzsina Anna Falus

Zsuzsanna Vizi

Korinna Eva Szabo

Linda Muller

Jeno Reiczigel

Nandor Balogh

Ferenc Manczur

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Albuminuria is an important marker of renal damage and can precede proteinuria; thus, it can be a useful analyte in the early diagnosis of kidney diseases. Albuminuria has also been found in dogs with hypertension, inflammatory, infectious, and neoplastic diseases.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish a reference interval (RI) for albuminuria in dogs.

Methods: One hundred sixty-four clinically healthy dogs were enrolled in the study. Urinary albumin was determined by the immunoturbidimetric method, and albumin excretion was expressed as the urinary albumin-to-creatinine (UAC) ratio. The RI for UAC was established.

Results: After exclusions, 124 dogs from 32 breeds remained. The median UAC of the study population was 3.0 mg/g (range: 0-48). The RI was defined as 0-19 mg/g (with a 90% CI for the upper limit of 13-28 mg/g). No significant difference was found between male and female dogs or between different age and body weight groups. The results of Sighthounds (n = 30) and Beagle dogs (n = 23) did not differ from the other breeds.

Conclusion: The canine RI of UAC is similar but somewhat narrower than the human RI.

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