The Urine Albumin Test in Diabetes: Why It Is Repeated and How It Guides Kidney Care

The cup is small, the instructions are brief, and the whole thing takes ninety seconds in a clinic bathroom. Yet for a person living with diabetes, that unremarkable sample may be the most informative test of the year. Long before a kidney shows any sign of trouble on a scan, before fatigue or swelling, before anyone feels anything at all, the filters inside it can begin letting a protein called albumin slip through. The urine albumin test for diabetic kidney disease is designed to catch that whisper.

Many people are puzzled when the result comes back borderline and the nurse simply says, “We will repeat it in a few months.” Others assume an abnormal number means their kidneys are already failing. Neither reaction matches the evidence.

This explainer walks through what the test measures, why one reading is never enough, how the result is read alongside a blood test, and how the pattern over time guides care. Every decision, as always, belongs to you and your treating team.

What is the urine albumin test, and why does diabetes call for it?

Albumin is the most abundant protein in blood. It keeps fluid inside blood vessels and ferries hormones and medicines around the body. Healthy kidneys hold on to almost all of it. Each kidney contains roughly a million filtering units, called glomeruli (tiny tangles of blood vessels that sieve waste out of blood). Their walls are built to let water and small waste molecules through while blocking large proteins such as albumin.

Diabetes attacks that barrier in slow motion. Years of elevated blood glucose stiffen and scar the filter walls and raise pressure inside the glomeruli. Scarred filters leak. Albumin appears in urine first in trace amounts, then, if the process continues, in larger quantities. The test is a way of reading how intact the barrier still is.

The stakes explain the attention. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in the United States, and the CDC estimates that about one in three adults with diabetes has chronic kidney disease, most of them unaware of it. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) notes that kidney disease in diabetes typically develops over many years and usually produces no symptoms early on.

Two tests are used together. The urine albumin test shows damage to the filter barrier. A blood test for creatinine, converted into an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, an estimate of how many milliliters of blood the kidneys clean per minute), shows how much filtering capacity remains. Albumin in urine tends to change first, which is why the urine albumin test for diabetic kidney disease is the earlier warning of the two. An eGFR can sit comfortably in the normal range while albumin is already climbing.

How the uACR test actually works, and how to give a good sample

Older versions of this test required collecting every drop of urine for 24 hours. Almost nobody does that now. Instead, the laboratory measures two things in a single “spot” sample: the concentration of albumin and the concentration of creatinine, a waste product muscles release at a steady rate. Dividing albumin by creatinine corrects for how dilute or concentrated the urine happens to be. The result is the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, written uACR or ACR, reported as milligrams of albumin per gram of creatinine.

The correction matters. Drink a liter of water before the appointment and albumin concentration drops because the urine is watery; creatinine drops by the same proportion, so the ratio holds. This is why a random sample is acceptable for screening, although MedlinePlus and NIDDK both note that a first-morning sample gives the most reproducible result because it is less affected by the day’s activity and food.

Timing and circumstances still shape the number. Mainstream guidance lists several situations that temporarily raise urine albumin without reflecting kidney damage:

• vigorous exercise within the previous 24 hours
• fever, infection or a recent acute illness
• a urinary tract infection
• menstrual bleeding contaminating the sample
• very high blood glucose or high blood pressure on the day
• heart failure or marked dehydration

If any of these apply, tell the person collecting the sample. Many clinics simply reschedule. The practical advice is modest: collect the sample as instructed, avoid an intense workout the day before, and do not change anything else about your routine. The test is meant to capture an ordinary day, not a performance.

Point-of-care dipstick and strip readers exist and can give a rough ACR estimate within minutes. They are useful for screening in some settings, but an abnormal strip reading is generally confirmed with a formal laboratory measurement before it influences care.

Albumin creatinine ratio normal range: what the three categories mean

Laboratories and kidney guidelines divide uACR results into three bands. The thresholds below are the ones used by NIDDK and in international chronic kidney disease staging.

Category	uACR (mg albumin per g creatinine)	Older term	What it usually indicates
A1	Below 30	Normal to mildly increased	Filter barrier intact or near intact
A2	30 to 300	Microalbuminuria	Moderately increased leak; early damage possible
A3	Above 300	Macroalbuminuria	Severely increased leak; established kidney involvement

The term microalbuminuria in diabetes is still heard in clinics and found in older leaflets. It does not mean the albumin molecules are small; it means the amount is small enough that a standard urine dipstick for protein would miss it. The newer language, “moderately increased albuminuria,” says the same thing more plainly.

Three qualifications keep this table honest. First, the bands are thresholds on a continuous scale, and risk rises steadily across it rather than jumping at 30 or 300. A result of 28 and a result of 32 describe near-identical kidneys. Second, a single value in A2 or A3 does not establish diabetic kidney disease; the next section explains why. Third, albumin can leak for reasons unrelated to diabetes, including high blood pressure on its own, certain inflammatory kidney conditions and some medications, so the treating team interprets the number against the whole clinical picture.

Some laboratories report in milligrams per millimole rather than milligrams per gram, and the cut-offs then read differently. Ask which unit is on your report before comparing it to anything you have read.

Why is the urine albumin test repeated so often?

Repetition is the heart of this test, not an afterthought. Urine albumin excretion varies from day to day in the same person by a surprising margin, and published studies of people with diabetes report wide within-person swings even when kidney function is stable. A result that lands in A2 on a Tuesday can land in A1 the following Tuesday with nothing having changed inside the kidney.

For that reason, mainstream guidance from NIDDK and the Mayo Clinic describes a confirmation rule: an elevated uACR is not treated as persistent albuminuria until at least two of three samples, collected over a three- to six-month window, are abnormal. The spacing is deliberate. It allows a transient cause, such as a viral illness or an unusually hard week of training, to resolve before the next sample. It also gives clinicians a trend line rather than a single dot.

Once persistent albuminuria is confirmed, repetition serves a second purpose. The test becomes a monitoring tool. The direction of travel over the following months and years, upward, flat or downward, tells the team whether blood pressure control, glucose control and any kidney-protective medicines are doing what they are meant to do. A falling uACR is one of the few early signals that an intervention is reaching the kidney.

Frequency follows risk. For people with diabetes and a normal result, NIDDK and the CDC recommend testing at least once a year. Where albuminuria has been confirmed, or where eGFR is reduced, the treating team usually tests more often, and the exact interval is an individual decision based on how fast the numbers are moving and what has recently changed in treatment.

Think of it less as one test and more as a single long measurement taken in installments.

Who is tested for diabetic kidney disease, and who is usually asked to wait

The short version: nearly everyone living with diabetes, on a schedule set by the type of diabetes and how long they have had it.

For type 2 diabetes, NIDDK and the Mayo Clinic advise that kidney testing, both uACR and eGFR, begin at the time of diagnosis. The reasoning is uncomfortable but sound. Type 2 diabetes often runs quietly for years before it is recognized, so a newly diagnosed person may already have had elevated glucose long enough to affect the kidneys. For type 1 diabetes, where onset is usually abrupt and dated, the same sources advise beginning annual testing about five years after diagnosis, since significant kidney change before that point is uncommon.

Children and adolescents with diabetes are tested too, on schedules set by their diabetes team, usually starting a few years after diagnosis or at puberty, whichever the team judges appropriate. Pregnancy changes the picture: the kidneys filter more during pregnancy and albumin excretion can rise physiologically, so results are interpreted by the obstetric and diabetes teams together.

Who is asked to wait? Not people who should be skipped, but people whose sample would mislead. Someone with a current urinary tract infection, a fever, uncontrolled high glucose that week, or who ran a half-marathon yesterday will typically be asked to come back once things have settled. People who are menstruating are often asked to return after the period ends. Someone recovering from a recent hospital admission for acute illness may be asked to wait several weeks so the kidneys can return to baseline.

Waiting in these cases is not neglect; it is the difference between a measurement and a misreading. The test is only useful when it reflects the kidney rather than the week.

What are the different stages of diabetic kidney disease?

Staging answers two questions at once: how much filtering capacity is left, and how much the filter is leaking. The answer to the first comes from eGFR, the answer to the second from uACR, and the combination places a person on a grid rather than a single ladder.

The eGFR axis runs G1 to G5. G1 is 90 or above (normal or high). G2 is 60 to 89 (mildly decreased). G3a is 45 to 59 and G3b is 30 to 44 (moderately decreased). G4 is 15 to 29 (severely decreased). G5 is below 15, the range associated with kidney failure. These are the categories used across NIDDK, NHS and international CKD guidance.

The albumin axis is the A1, A2, A3 scheme from the table above. A person with diabetes is said to have chronic kidney disease if eGFR is below 60 or albuminuria is in A2 or above, persisting for more than three months.

Here is why the grid matters more than either axis alone. Two people can both have an eGFR of 70, squarely in G2. If one has A1 albuminuria and the other has A3, their outlooks differ considerably. Across large population studies summarized in kidney guidelines, higher albuminuria at any eGFR level is associated with faster loss of filtration, more cardiovascular events and higher mortality. Albumin in the urine is not merely a marker of kidney damage; it is also a marker of damaged blood vessels throughout the body.

A practical note on language. “Stage 3 kidney disease” sounds alarming, and many people hear it as a countdown. Large numbers of adults live for decades at G3a with stable function. The grid position, and more importantly its direction over successive tests, is what the treating team actually watches.

How the urine albumin test guides diabetic kidney disease care

A confirmed albumin result changes conversations in four areas. None of these are decisions a reader should make alone; all are decisions a treating team makes with the number in front of them.

Blood pressure. High pressure inside the glomeruli drives albumin leak, and lowering systemic blood pressure lowers it. Albuminuria usually prompts a tighter blood pressure target than would otherwise apply, with the exact goal set individually.

Blood glucose. Sustained glucose control slows the scarring of filter walls. The urine albumin test does not change the goal of good control, but it adds urgency and a measurable way to see whether the kidney is responding.

Kidney-protective medicines. Several classes are relevant, and the mechanism of each helps explain why albumin matters to the prescriber. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) relax the vessel leaving each glomerulus, reducing pressure on the filter and lowering albumin leak. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, developed as glucose-lowering agents, also reduce pressure within the glomerulus through a feedback effect on the kidney tubule, and in trials summarized by NIDDK they slowed kidney disease progression in people with diabetes. Nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists reduce inflammation and scarring in kidney tissue. Some glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists have shown kidney benefits in trial populations. Whether any of these is appropriate, in what combination and at what point, depends on eGFR, potassium levels, blood pressure, other conditions and individual tolerance. Only the prescribing clinician can weigh that.

Cardiovascular attention. Because albuminuria tracks vascular damage generally, a confirmed result usually prompts a closer look at cholesterol, smoking and heart risk.

The follow-up uACR then closes the loop: it is one of the few ways to see within months whether these measures are reaching the kidney.

Can you reverse kidney damage from type 2 diabetes?

This is the question people most want answered honestly, so here is the honest version in three parts.

First, albuminuria can decrease. Studies and guideline summaries from NIDDK and the Mayo Clinic describe people whose uACR falls from A2 back into A1 after blood pressure and glucose are brought under control and kidney-protective medicines are started. Some of that fall reflects a genuine reduction in pressure and inflammation at the filter. In early, moderately increased albuminuria, regression to the normal range is well documented and is a reasonable thing to hope for, though never something to promise.

Second, scar tissue does not become working kidney again. Once glomeruli are replaced by fibrous tissue, that filtering capacity is gone. The remaining units can compensate for a time, which is why eGFR may hold steady, but no current treatment regrows filters. A falling albumin number means the surviving filters are under less strain; it does not mean lost filters have returned.

Third, slowing is the realistic goal, and it is a meaningful one. The trajectory of diabetic kidney disease is not fixed. In trial populations summarized by NIDDK, the combination of blood pressure control, glucose control and medicines acting on the glomerulus reduced the rate at which eGFR declined and the number of people reaching kidney failure. A slower slope can mean the difference between needing dialysis and never needing it over a lifetime.

So the precise answer is: early leak can often be reduced and sometimes normalized; established scarring cannot be undone; and the speed of decline can be changed, sometimes substantially. Anyone promising more than that, in any direction, is going beyond the evidence.

How to lower urine albumin: what the evidence actually supports

Searches for how to lower urine albumin turn up everything from herbal teas to extreme diets. The evidence base is narrower and more reassuring than the internet suggests.

The interventions with the strongest support are the ones already described: blood pressure control, glucose control, and medicines that reduce pressure within the glomerulus, prescribed and adjusted by a clinician. Beyond those, mainstream guidance from NIDDK, the NHS and the American Heart Association points to a cluster of everyday measures with reasonable evidence for kidney and vascular protection:

• Reducing sodium intake, which lowers blood pressure and improves the effect of several kidney-protective medicines.
• Not smoking, since smoking accelerates vascular damage, including in the kidney.
• Regular moderate physical activity, which improves blood pressure and glucose control over time.
• Maintaining a body weight that supports those goals, approached without shame and with professional support where helpful.
• Avoiding regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers unless a clinician has said they are acceptable, because these can reduce kidney blood flow.
• Staying up to date with vaccinations, since serious infections can stress already-strained kidneys.

Protein intake is a frequent question. Very high protein intake increases the kidney’s workload, and NIDDK suggests that people with diabetic kidney disease avoid excessive protein; severely restricting it, however, carries its own risks and should only happen under dietitian guidance.

What the evidence does not support: supplements marketed for “kidney cleansing,” detox regimens, or any over-the-counter product claiming to lower albumin. Some herbal products have been linked to kidney injury. If you are considering any supplement, mention it to your team first.

The pattern is consistent. What protects the kidney is what protects the blood vessels, applied steadily, with the uACR repeated to see whether it is working.

What the weeks after an unexpected result usually look like

A first abnormal uACR rarely triggers immediate action. What follows is usually quieter and more methodical than people expect.

In the first few weeks, the clinic typically asks whether anything might have inflated the number: an illness, a heavy workout, a period, poorly controlled glucose. A repeat sample is arranged, often with a request for a first-morning collection. Blood tests for eGFR and electrolytes may be ordered or checked if recent. Blood pressure is reviewed, possibly with home readings.

Over the next three to six months, the window NIDDK and the Mayo Clinic describe for confirmation, the second and sometimes third samples are collected. If they return to normal, the first result is treated as transient and annual testing resumes. If two of three remain elevated, persistent albuminuria is recorded and a care conversation begins in earnest.

That conversation generally covers the four areas from earlier: blood pressure targets, glucose targets, whether a kidney-protective medicine is appropriate, and cardiovascular risk. If a medicine is started or adjusted, follow-up blood tests within the first weeks are common, because several of these classes can shift potassium or cause an expected small, early dip in eGFR as filter pressure falls. The treating team interprets those changes; they are usually anticipated rather than alarming.

By around three months after any change in treatment, a repeat uACR often appears on the schedule. This is the first chance to see whether the intervention is reaching the kidney, and it is where a downward trend, if it comes, first becomes visible.

Referral to a kidney specialist is not automatic. NIDDK describes it as appropriate when eGFR is falling quickly, albuminuria is in the severe range, the cause is uncertain, or complications such as anemia or mineral imbalance appear. Many people with early diabetic kidney disease remain under the care of their diabetes and primary care team for years.

What people often get wrong about albuminuria and diabetes

Misunderstandings about this test cause real harm, in both directions: unnecessary dread and false reassurance. Here are the ones that come up most.

“One abnormal result means my kidneys are failing.” It does not. Albumin excretion varies widely day to day, and a single elevated reading has not been confirmed as persistent until repeated. Even confirmed A2 albuminuria describes early change, not failure.

“My eGFR is normal, so my kidneys are fine.” eGFR can remain normal, even high, in early diabetic kidney disease while albumin is already leaking. This is precisely why the urine test is done alongside the blood test rather than replaced by it.

“I feel well, so there is nothing wrong.” NIDDK and the Mayo Clinic both emphasize that diabetic kidney disease typically produces no symptoms until it is advanced. Feeling well is not evidence of healthy filters.

“The dipstick was negative for protein, so I do not need the albumin test.” Standard protein dipsticks are too insensitive to detect A2-range albumin. A negative dipstick says little about early leak.

“Drinking lots of water before the test will lower my result.” The creatinine correction cancels dilution. Hydration changes the concentrations, not the ratio.

“Kidney damage from diabetes always progresses to dialysis.” Most people with diabetic kidney disease never reach kidney failure. Progression is variable, and the rate can be slowed.

“If I start a kidney-protective medicine, my kidney numbers should improve right away.” Some medicines cause a small, expected early fall in eGFR as pressure inside the filter drops. The treating team anticipates this; it is not the same as kidney injury.

“A supplement or cleanse can fix it.” No such product has credible evidence. Some have caused kidney injury.

Why there are no early warning symptoms, and what the evidence says about life expectancy

People often ask what the symptoms of kidney failure due to diabetes are, hoping to watch for them instead of relying on a test. The uncomfortable truth is that the kidneys are built with enormous reserve. A person can lose well over half of their filtering capacity before anything is felt. By the time swelling, persistent fatigue, nausea, changes in urination or shortness of breath appear, kidney function is usually severely reduced. The Mayo Clinic and NIDDK describe these as features of advanced disease, not early signs. This is the entire argument for the urine albumin test: it detects a problem years before the body announces it.

The second question, about life expectancy for someone with diabetes and kidney failure, deserves a careful answer rather than a number. Published survival statistics exist, but they describe populations, not individuals, and they vary enormously by age at kidney failure, heart health, how long diabetes has been present, whether a transplant is possible, and how early kidney disease was identified and treated. Quoting an average figure to a reader who does not know where they fall in that spread would mislead more than it would inform.

What the evidence does say clearly is this. The largest driver of mortality in diabetic kidney disease is cardiovascular disease, not the kidney itself; albuminuria is a strong marker of that vascular risk. Treating blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol, and using kidney-protective medicines where appropriate, lowers both kidney and heart events in trial populations summarized by NIDDK and the American Heart Association. People who reach kidney failure today have options, including dialysis at home or in a center and transplantation, and outcomes in these groups have improved over recent decades.

The most powerful lever on life expectancy is time: detecting albuminuria early and acting on it. That is a test result, not a symptom.

Questions to ask your care team about your urine albumin result

A result is only as useful as the conversation it starts. These questions tend to produce the clearest answers; bring the ones that matter to you.

• What was my uACR number and which category does it fall in? What unit is my laboratory using?
• Was this a first-morning sample, and was anything happening that week that might have raised it?
• When will it be repeated, and should I collect the next sample differently?
• What is my current eGFR, and how has it changed over my last few tests?
• Given both numbers, where do I sit on the kidney disease grid, and what matters more in my case, the eGFR or the albumin?
• What blood pressure range are you aiming for in my situation, and would home readings help?
• Are there medicines you are considering for kidney protection? How do they work, what follow-up blood tests would they need, and what side effects should I know about?
• Are there medicines I currently take, including over-the-counter painkillers, that could affect my kidneys?
• Should I see a dietitian, and what specifically would you like me to change about sodium or protein?
• Do I need a kidney specialist now, and if not, what would prompt that referral?
• How will we know whether the plan is working, and when would we expect to see it in the numbers?
• Are there any symptoms that should make me contact you before the next appointment?

Write the answers down or ask for a printed summary. The value of this test accumulates over years, and a record of your own numbers, side by side with the dates of any treatment changes, is one of the most useful documents you can bring to any future appointment.

When to call your doctor

Most of the time, the urine albumin test is about patient, scheduled monitoring. A few situations, however, should not wait for the next planned visit.

Contact your treating team promptly if you notice new or increasing swelling of the ankles, feet, hands or around the eyes; a marked and unexplained drop in how much urine you pass; urine that is visibly frothy over several days, pink, red or cola-colored; or a sudden rise in your usual blood pressure readings. These can indicate a change in kidney function that needs assessment.

Call the same day if you have signs of a urinary tract infection, such as burning on urination, urgency, cloudy or strong-smelling urine, or pain in the lower back or side, especially with fever. Infections both raise albumin readings and, in people with diabetes, can escalate quickly.

Seek urgent care, by emergency services if needed, for chest pain, severe shortness of breath or difficulty breathing when lying flat, confusion or extreme drowsiness, persistent vomiting with inability to keep fluids down, or very high or very low blood glucose readings that do not respond to your usual plan. Shortness of breath with swelling can indicate fluid overload; confusion and vomiting can accompany both severe kidney impairment and dangerous glucose levels.

If you have recently started or changed a blood pressure or kidney-protective medicine and develop dizziness on standing, fainting, muscle weakness or an irregular heartbeat, contact the prescriber. These may relate to blood pressure or potassium shifts that the team will want to check with a blood test.

Never stop a prescribed medicine on your own because of a test result or a symptom; call and ask. The treating team has your full history and your trend of numbers, and that context is what turns a worrying moment into an informed decision.

Frequently asked questions

What is the albumin creatinine ratio normal range for someone with diabetes?

A uACR below 30 mg of albumin per gram of creatinine is considered normal to mildly increased (category A1). Results from 30 to 300 mg/g are moderately increased (A2) and above 300 mg/g severely increased (A3). The thresholds are the same with or without diabetes, but risk rises continuously across the scale, so your team will interpret the exact number alongside eGFR and your trend over time.

Why is the urine albumin test repeated instead of acting on the first result?

Because urine albumin varies substantially from day to day in the same person, and infection, exercise, fever and high glucose can inflate a single reading. Guidance from NIDDK and the Mayo Clinic requires two of three abnormal samples over three to six months before albuminuria is called persistent. Repeating the test separates a true change in the kidney from an unusual week.

What does microalbuminuria in diabetes actually mean?

Microalbuminuria is the older name for a uACR between 30 and 300 mg/g, now called moderately increased albuminuria or category A2. The “micro” refers to the small quantity, not small molecules; it is an amount too low for a routine protein dipstick to detect. In diabetes it is usually the earliest measurable sign that the kidney’s filter barrier is under strain.

What are the different stages of diabetic kidney disease?

Staging combines two axes. eGFR runs from G1 (90 or above) through G2, G3a, G3b and G4 down to G5 (below 15, the kidney failure range). Albuminuria runs A1 to A3. Chronic kidney disease is present when eGFR is below 60 or albuminuria is A2 or higher for more than three months. Higher albuminuria at any eGFR level is linked to faster progression and more cardiovascular events.

Can you reverse kidney damage from type 2 diabetes?

Partly. Early, moderately increased albuminuria can fall and sometimes return to the normal range once blood pressure and glucose are controlled and kidney-protective medicines are used where appropriate. Established scarring, however, does not regenerate; lost filtering units do not come back. The realistic and well-evidenced goal is to slow the rate of decline, which in trial populations has substantially reduced progression to kidney failure.

How can I lower urine albumin naturally?

The measures with evidence are the same ones that protect blood vessels: keeping blood pressure and glucose in your target ranges, reducing sodium, not smoking, staying physically active, and avoiding regular nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers unless cleared by your clinician. Prescribed kidney-protective medicines have the strongest effect and should be discussed with your team. No supplement or cleanse has credible evidence, and some have harmed kidneys.

What are the symptoms of kidney failure due to diabetes?

Early diabetic kidney disease causes no symptoms, which is why the urine albumin test exists. Features such as swelling of the legs or around the eyes, persistent fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, frothy urine, reduced urine output and shortness of breath generally appear only when kidney function is severely reduced. Any of these in a person with diabetes warrants prompt contact with the treating team rather than self-monitoring.

What is the average life expectancy for someone with diabetes and kidney failure?

There is no single honest figure. Published statistics describe populations and vary widely with age, heart health, how long diabetes has been present, and whether transplantation is possible. Cardiovascular disease, not the kidney itself, is the main driver of mortality, and treating blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol lowers that risk. Early detection and treatment of albuminuria is the strongest lever on long-term outlook.

Does drinking a lot of water before the test lower my albumin result?

No. The test reports albumin relative to creatinine, and dilute urine lowers both by the same proportion, so the ratio is largely unchanged. Hydration habits need not change for the test. What does distort results is hard exercise the day before, fever, a urinary infection, menstrual contamination or very high glucose, so mention any of these when you give the sample.

How often should the urine albumin test be done if I have diabetes?

At least once a year for people with diabetes and a normal result, according to NIDDK and the CDC, beginning at diagnosis for type 2 diabetes and about five years after diagnosis for type 1. Once albuminuria is confirmed or eGFR is reduced, testing is usually more frequent, and after any change in kidney-protective treatment a repeat is often scheduled within a few months to check the response.

References

• Diabetic Kidney Disease, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH)
• Microalbumin Creatinine Ratio, MedlinePlus
• Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Chronic kidney disease, NHS

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.