Urinary Protein to Creatinine Ratio in Term Pregnant Women

Urinary Protein to Creatinine Ratio in Term Pregnant Women: What is the Effect of a Clean Catch Urine

This study will determine the incidence of elevated U Pr/Cr in normal term pregnant women. In addition we will determine if a "clean catch" urine has an effect on the U Pr/Cr.

Clean catch urine should be used due to possible vaginal secretion contamination with falsely elevated U Pr/Cr ratio. However, no supporting reference was found in the article and no control group with random urine collection for comparison to clean catch specimen U Pr/Cr was included in their study. The original studies that validated spot Pr/Cr urine as a predictor of 24 -hour total urine protein used random non-clean catch random urines . They had an r value of .93-.99 in estimating total protein excreted in 24 hours. At our institution we use Siemens-base test to determine U Pr/Cr. In the product insert the company states that no special patient preparation is necessary.

Thus, this study will determine the incidence of elevated U Pr/Cr in normal term pregnant women. In addition we will determine if a "clean catch" urine has an effect on the U Pr/Cr.

Inclusion Criteria:

• women of 37 weeks gestation or greater

Exclusion Criteria:

• Urinary tract infections
• Hypertension
• Pre-eclampsia
• Renal dysfunction